A legal challenge to this country's odious felon disenfranchisement laws, and a sign of hope for more robust democracy:

The entire active roster of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has agreed to rehear an April decision upholding a section of New York state's election law that denies prisoners and paroled felons the right to vote. Jalil Abdul Muntaqim, a black man incarcerated at Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Wallkill, acknowledged that the law was not intentionally discriminatory. Instead, he argued that it had the practical effect of diluting black and Hispanic voter rolls because the racial disparity in New York's prison population is driven, in part, by discriminatory sentencing practices...The decision to rehear the case in banc was made by a vote of the court's 13 active judges. It will be heard on April 7.