SEATTLE, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Washington state will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a ruling that the state's ban on voting by prison inmates is unconstitutional, officials said.
Attorney General Rob McKenna announced his plans late Wednesday in a news conference at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where he was about to begin a trip to Israel, The Seattle Times reported Thursday. McKenna said the state will ask the appeals court to delay enforcement of Tuesday's ruling, saying stays are routine during appeals.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision contradicts opinions in similar cases by three other circuits, McKenna said.
The court ruled Tuesday in a suit originally brought in 1996 by black, Hispanic and American Indian inmates. The court found the justice system in Washington is so infected with racial discrimination that a ban on voting by inmates and felons on supervised release violates civil rights legislation.
More than one-third of the state's inmates are from the three minority groups, although they make up only 12 percent of the population.
