In light of this history, it is unsurprising that when Congress enacted the Voting Rights Act in 1965, both Judiciary Committees affirmatively stated that felon disenfranchisement laws were not affected by
§ 1973b(c)'s ban on historically discriminatory “test[s] or device[s],” including the prohibition on tests for “good moral character.”
See supra note 8; S.Rep. No. 162, 89th Cong., 1st Sess., pt. 3, at 24,
reprinted in 1965 U.S.C.C.A.N. 2508, 2562 (joint views of Senators Dodd, Hart, Long, Kennedy, Bayh, Burdick, Tydings, Dirksen, Hruska, Fong, Scott, and Javits) (“This definition [of the impermissible ‘good moral character’ test] would not result in the proscription of the frequent requirement of States and political subdivisions that an applicant for voting or registration for voting be free of conviction of a felony.... It applies where lack of good moral character is defined in terms of conviction of lesser crimes.”); H.R.Rep. No. 439, 89th Cong., 1st Sess. 25-26,
reprinted in 1965 U.S.C.C.A.N. 2437, 2457 (
§ 1973b(c) “does not proscribe a requirement of a State or any political subdivision of a State that an applicant for voting or registration for voting be free of conviction of a felony”). Thus, not only has Congress failed ever to make a legislative finding that felon disenfranchisement is a pretext or proxy for racial discrimination; it has effectively determined that it is not.
Cf. Oregon, 400 U.S. at 130, 91 S.Ct. at 267 (opinion of Black, J.) (“Congress made no legislative findings that the 21-year-old vote requirement was used by the States to disenfranchise voters on account of race.”).