Non-Citizen Suffrage: An Argument Based on the Voting Rights Act and Related Law
![handle is hein.journals/colhr25 and id is 177 raw text is: NON-CITIZEN SUFFRAGE: AN ARGUMENT
BASED ON THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT AND
RELATED LAW
Paul Tiao
I. INTRODUCTION
No taxation without representation!1
In 1776, a band of British colonists declared their independence
from the Crown, hoping to create a government that derived its just
Powers from the Consent of the Governed.2 Today, fair representation
remains an elusive reality. The American form of government may not
be the paragon of democracy that we believe it to be.
Nationwide, millions3 of lawful permanent residents4 (LPRs)
are denied the right to vote in local, state and federal elections. These
* S.B. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1989); J.D. Columbia University
School of Law (expected 1995); M.P.A. Woodrow Wilson School for Public and
International Affairs, Princeton University (expected 1995). Articles Editor, Columbia
Human Rights Law Review (1993-94). The author would like to thank Professors Gerald
Neuman and Marina Hsieh for their substantive suggestions, David Rich for his
assistance in editing this piece, and George and Barbara Tiao for their inspiration and
support.
1. None of the measures imposed on the colonists by the British Parliament after
1765 occupied so prominent a place in the literature of American protest as the question
of taxation. Taxation without representation became the central issue, the focal symbol
which expressed the entire American feeling of discontent. Richard Hofstadter, 2 Great
Issues in American History: A Documentary Record 4 (1958).
2. The Declaration of Independence para. 2 (U.S. 1776).
3. In 1990, there were 10,017,892 adult, non-citizens residing in the United States.
Latinos numbered 4,879,758, or nearly one-half of the total. Bureau of the Census, U.S.
Dep't of Commerce, 1990 CP-3-1, 1990 Census of Population: Persons of Hispanic Origin
in the United States 3-4 (1993) [hereinafter Persons of Hispanic Origin in the United
States]. Of the 14,262,695 adult Latinos living in the United States in 1990, more than
one-third, or 4,879,758, were non-citizens. Id. at 2.
4. The term lawful permanent resident, as used in this Note, means an
immigrant who has been admitted into the United States. The term immigrant is
defined in the Immigration and Nationality Act § 101(a)(15), 8 U.S.C.A. § 1101(a)(15)
(West 1971 & Supp. 1993). An LPR may stay in this country as long as she wishes,
provided that she does not engage in certain post-entry activities that would render her
deportable. Thomas A. Aleinikoff & David A. Martin, Immigration: Process and Policy
119 n.1 (2d ed. 1991). The term permanent resident alien is often used with the same
meaning as LPR, but the latter term is not used in this Note because of the negative
connotations associated with the term alien.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/colhr25&div=10&collection=journals&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Non-Citizen Suffrage: An Argument Based on the Voting Rights Act and Related Law
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