The U.S. Supreme Court has set a conference date of March 19 for Simmons v Galvin, 09-920, the case over whether the Voting Rights Act applies to state laws that ban ex-felons or felons from registering to vote. The case is from Massachusetts. Last year, the 1st circuit had ruled 2-1 that the Voting Rights Act was never meant to pertain to that type of state law.