The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that prisoners have the right to vote in elections. The challenge to the law was launched by Richard Sauve, a one-time motorcycle club member from Ontario who was sentenced to life in prison for murder.

He has since won parole, earned a university degree and has continued to campaign for voting rights for those who remain in prison.

By a 5-4 margin, the high court concluded Thursday that the federal government had failed to demonstrate any overriding social objective that could justify such an infringement of the Charter of Rights.

At issue was a section of the Canada Elections Act, passed in 1993, that denied prisoners serving terms of two years or more the right to vote in federal elections.

The ruling doesn't guarantee that federal prisoners will ever actually get to vote because Parliament could pass a new law before the next election -- although it's not clear how much room the government has to maneuver.