Court sides with ex-felons who challenged Florida voting requirement

[mcar]

Court sides with ex-felons who challenged Florida voting requirement
BY TAL AXELROD - 02/19/20 11:31 AM EST

A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld an injunction of a Florida law that barred ex-felons from voting if they had not paid fines and other fees related to their sentences.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit agreed with a previous district court’s rule halting the law, which was passed by state Republicans in 2019 after a constitutional amendment went through the year prior enfranchising former felons. The three-judge panel ruled that the law violates the Equal Protection Clause because it unconstitutionally bars a class of felons from voting based only on their wealth

“It is undeniable that the [law’s legal financial obligation] requirement punishes those who cannot pay more harshly than those who can,” the appeals court said Wednesday. “We affirm the district court’s preliminary injunction enjoining the defendants … from preventing the plaintiffs from voting based solely on their genuine inability to pay legal financial obligations.”

The amendment to Florida’s constitution was first passed in the 2018 midterms, with nearly 65 percent of voters choosing to allow 1.4 million convicted felons to vote following their release from incarceration.

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/483631-court-sides-with-ex-felons-who-challenged-florida-voting-requirement?fbclid=IwAR0jn1bnQo0PPVKQwHF7ftK747pgIShbvmNT53d0rH7PtefSS5-KIrNLdKs

[alwaysinasnit]

1. K&R Thanks for posting.

[tblue37]

2. Excellent! nt

[Tanuki]

3. Fantastic news! Kicking for joy (and for justice)!

[sdfernando]

4. well, considering that the state of Florida is rife with "Florida man"

I'm no so sure this is a good idea.....This is for those that are impared.

[Mike Niendorff]

5. BRAVO.

Also : OF COURSE their attempts to restrict voting were both politically targeted and unconstitutional -- that was the point!

Kudos to the 11th Circuit for holding the line on the 14th Amendment.


MDN