Colorado Court Makes Correct Call

Back in May, I wrote about the ACLU claiming that Colorado state law denying paroled prisoners the right to vote was unconstitutional, and argued that the Colorado Constitution provided that convicted criminals only lose their right to vote while they are incarcerated, but not after they are released on parole. A Denver district judge dismissed the lawsuit and at the time I wrote, "Let's see what happens when the ACLU appeals."

Well, here's the rest of the story from the Denver Post.

In a unanimous ruling, written by Justice Gregory Hobbs, the Colorado Supreme Court said today a person who is serving a sentence of parole has not served his or her full term of imprisonment.

Hobbs added that the phrase "full term of imprisonment" makes it clear the person's full rights return only upon completion of the entire sentence, including parole.

There are more twists and turns to this story. Last time I wrote about the Citizens United for Rehabilitation for Errants (CURE). The ACLU filed this lawsuit on behalf of them and another nonprofit group and a gentleman named Michael Danielson. It seems, that Michael got himself ordained a minister while he had been in prison serving a sentence for drug and theft charges.

He now works with recently released prisoners and has this for an attitude.

"If I'm out here working for a living and paying the taxes, by all means I should have a right to say where that tax money is going and who's spending it," he said. "The guys are out here working for a living and they ought to have the right to say."

This guy needs to get to the book of Romans and learn where all authority comes from and while he's at it practicing some humility wouldn't hurt either.

There are people working that are too young to vote. There are non citizens working who do not have the right to vote. They have committed no crimes against their fellow citizens, yet the law does not allow them to vote. You on the other hand, reverend, traded your full rights as a citizen for drugs and thievery. Now, rather than accept humbly the consequences of your actions, your pridful, rebellious spirit has made you an ally of one of religions' most ardent enemies, the ACLU.