Federal Court Tosses Florida's Poll Tax; Formerly Incarcerated People Can Vote in 2020

[babylonsister]

Fantastic to see this! The majority voted to let them vote, and this crooked admin tried to deny them and us.


Federal Court Tosses Florida’s Poll Tax; Formerly Incarcerated People Can Vote in 2020
by Colin Kalmbacher | 2:32 pm, March 31st, 2020


A federal court struck down a Florida law which denied individuals with prior felony convictions the right to vote if they could not afford to pay certain fees and fines. Tuesday’s decision will restore the right to vote for some 1.4 million Floridians who would have otherwise been eligible to vote but for the law making that right contingent upon their ability to pay off outstanding fines, fees and restitution.

That law, SB 7066, is now enjoined and cannot take effect. The state defendants seeking to enforce SB 7066 only have recourse to the Supreme Court–which is unlikely to take up their case during the present term; meaning that the ruling probably won’t be overturned or even considered before the 2020 general election.

The 78-page opinion by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit is an all-but total victory for voting rights and Civil Rights advocates who have long complained that Sunshine State Republicans had effectively resurrected Florida’s racist poll tax of the Jim Crow Era under a poorly-disguised legal garb.

“The court unanimously ruled that a person’s right to vote cannot be contingent upon their ability to pay,” said Julie Ebenstein, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project in a press release. “This law is a modern-day poll tax. This ruling recognizes the gravity of elected officials trying to circumvent Amendment 4 to create roadblocks to voting based on wealth.”

“This is a great win for voting rights!” added Myrna Perez, director of the Voting Rights and Elections program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. “The Eleventh Circuit told the state of Florida what the rest of America already knows. You can’t condition the right to vote on a person’s wealth.”

more...

https://lawandcrime.com/2020-election/federal-court-tosses-floridas-poll-tax-formerly-incarcerated-people-can-vote-in-2020/?fbclid=IwAR2VMvRmugJwN7Gk8byRO9xR-HX9LXNn2GVA48tGr7Q5xQhqvRHrCqupbKI

[hlthe2b]

1. Thank heavens once again for what is left of the sane justices.

[SallyHemmings]

2. Much needed good news!

[SunSeeker]

3. K & R

[Scarsdale]

4. What Florida tried to do

was take a right that EVERY citizen has, no matter what their circumstances. The right to vote should never be tied to what a person owes. By the way, the biggest crooks are seemingly already in office, particularly in Florida. Most of THEM belong behind bars. The scum in the WH are crooked as any other, if not even more crooked. So far, they have been kept out of prison, but times are changing. Not fast enough, but it will change.

[mitch96]

5. Yahoo!!! this is a good thing

The only way the repugs win is if they cheat..... Voter suppression, gerrymandering etc...

m

[subana]

6. excellent!!

what a great outcome!

[onethatcares]

7. now maybe we can save this state

and get rid of scott/rubio/desantis and the rest of the florida legislature.

[johnthewoodworker]

8. Can this be appealed to the supreme court?

[babylonsister]

9. Not any time soon. Per the article...

That law, SB 7066, is now enjoined and cannot take effect. The state defendants seeking to enforce SB 7066 only have recourse to the Supreme Court–which is unlikely to take up their case during the present term; meaning that the ruling probably won’t be overturned or even considered before the 2020 general election.

[gratuitous]

14. The Supremes are "unlikely" to take up the case before the election

But in the age of Trump and the Roberts Supreme Court, unlikely events occur with appalling regularity. If the powers that be decide that Trump needs Florida to be re-elected, look for an emergency petition for Supreme Court review to go flying through.

If the powers that be decide Trump can't possibly win re-election with or without Florida, then I think the 11th Circuit ruling will be in effect in November. But the Roberts Court could still create confusion at any moment if it looks like Florida Republicans will get creamed in November.

[Phoenix61]

10. Yeah!!!!

This is why it’s so important we maintain an unbiased judiciary. In my opinion, the single most important reason to vote Dem. We can not afford anymore Federalist picked judges.

[CaptainTruth]

11. Great news, but questions for the legal folks...

This was a 3 judge panel. Can FL request an en banc hearing of the 11th Circuit?

A previous ruling only applied to the plaintiffs in the case (I think there were 3 or 4?) not all FL ex-felons. Is this ruling the same? If so, what has to be done to extend the ruling to all ex-felons?

From what I've seen, the ruling stresses ex-felons who CAN'T pay. So could ex-felons possibly have to prove they can't pay for this to apply to them? In other words, if FL wants to continue fighting this, could they say to ex-felons, "the ruling only applies to those who can't pay, so you have to go to court & prove you can't pay" (or otherwise require ex-felons to file a mountain of paperwork that few would complete)?

Thanks in advance to legal folks who can answer any of that!

[BeckyDem]

12. K&R!!

[crickets]

13. Love it. K&R