Muntaqim V. Coombe - Overview

Overview

Muntaqim's original name was Anthony Bottom. In May 1971, Bottom and an accomplice shot and killed two New York City police officers. In 1974, Bottom was convicted on two counts of murder in the first degree for these killings, and received a prison term of twenty-five years to life. Bottom was denied parole in 2004 and is eligible to apply again for parole in 2006. Because he is serving a life term, Bottom would never again be allowed to vote under New York's existing felon-disenfranchisement law unless he were to be pardoned.

Bottom's challenge to New York's felon disenfranchisement law was dismissed by the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York. The United States Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal of the complaint on the grounds that section 2 of the Voting Rights Act does not apply to felon disenfranchisement statutes. This was based on the fact that since the application of Section 2 would have altered the balance of power between the state and federal governments, Congress was obliged, under recent Supreme Court precedent, to make a clear statement that it intended to upset that balance. As it had not done so, the statute could not be applied to disallow felon disenfranchisement.

On 8 November 2004 the Supreme Court denied Bottom's petition for certiorari, thus declining to hear the case. After the Supreme Court denied certiorari, the Second Circuit on its own motion ordered rehearing of the case before the full court. The oral argument on rehearing took place on June 22, 2005.

On 4 May 2006 the Second Circuit dismissed Muntaqim's complaint on the grounds that he lacked standing and the court, therefore, lacked jurisdiction to hear him. Muntaqim had been transferred to a NY prison directly from a California prison in which he had been serving a sentence for a different offense. As such, he was then a citizen of California and not of NY. Further, at various parole hearings he had indicated that he had no intention of staying in NY were he to be released. Since, under NY law, serving in prison neither creates nor destroys residency, Muntaqim remained a resident of California and it was that fact, not the felon disenfranchisement law, which prevented Muntaqim from voting.