New Zealand’s Supreme Court has twice in the past two months turned its attention to the vexed issue of prisoner voting. Its first decision, Attorney-General v Taylor, upheld by a 3-2 majority a declaration that the legislative ban on all sentenced prisoners voting is inconsistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (NZBORA). Its second decision, Ngaranoa v Attorney-General, found by a 4-1 majority that as this legislative ban did not amend any of the “reserved” provisions in the Electoral Act 1993, no question arose as to its validity. This post outlines each decision, before making some general comment on what they reveal about the Court’s approach to constitutional issues.
The background to the issue
In 2010, New Zealand’s Parliament passed a member’s bill in the name of a backbench MP from the then-governing National Party by a 63-58 vote margin. This Bill amended the Electoral…
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Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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