Abstract
The vast majority of U.S. states and many countries have laws disenfranchising those lacking “mental capacity.” Such laws discriminate against people with mental and intellectual disabilities. Based on international developments like the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, some countries, including Japan and Peru, have begun questioning the need for incompetence laws. This Article’s examination of Japanese and Peruvian reforms to voting rights for persons with mental and intellectual disabilities challenges the existing assumptions of U.S. lawmakers and argues that U.S. states should eliminate any form of disenfranchisement for people with disabilities by passing legislation following the concept of supported decision making.
About the Author
Law Clerk, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. J.D., Yale Law School; B.A., Rice University. This Article reflects only my personal views and not the views of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas or any member thereof. I am eternally grateful to Dean Heather Gerken for seeing this project through from idea formation to publication and for believing in my ideas and my voice. For invaluable feedback and support, I also owe a debt of gratitude to the Honorable David Barron, the Honorable Keith Ellison, Professor Douglas Kysar, Professor Judith Resnik, Professor Kevin Barry, Professor Bob Dinerstein, Larry Liu, and, of course, the tireless editors of the UCLA Law Review. Finally, I’d like to thank my former students, for inspiring me through their efforts to show the world that having a disability is a strength and not a weakness.
