The lawyer for the Attorney-General says the courts do not have the power to declare that the act which stops prisoners from voting is in breach of human rights.
Career criminal Arthur Taylor is appearing by video link at the High Court at Auckland on Monday to argue the legislation breaches human rights laws and the Treaty of Waitangi.
But the Attorney-General and the chief executive of the Department of Corrections are seeking to have the application struck out, saying it's an abuse of process.
The lawyer for the Attorney General, John Pike, said the court did not have the jurisdiction to say Parliament acted unlawfully when it created the act.
