Current:Home > BackCourt blocks Mississippi ban on voting after some crimes, but GOP official will appeal ruling-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Court blocks Mississippi ban on voting after some crimes, but GOP official will appeal ruling
View Date:2024-12-23 20:48:03
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi is violating the U.S. Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment by permanently stripping voting rights from people convicted of some felonies, a federal appeals court panel ruled in a split decision Friday.
Two judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ordered the Mississippi secretary of state to stop enforcing a provision in the state constitution that disenfranchises people convicted of specific crimes, including murder, forgery and bigamy.
If the ruling stands, thousands of people could regain voting rights, possibly in time for the Nov. 7 general election for governor and other statewide offices.
Mississippi Republican Attorney General Lynn Fitch expects to ask the full appeals court to reconsider the panel’s 2-1 ruling, her spokesperson, Debbee Hancock, said Friday.
The 5th Circuit is one of the most conservative appeals courts in the U.S., and in 2022 it declined to overturn Mississippi’s felony disenfranchisement provisions — a ruling that came in a separate lawsuit. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court said it would not consider that case, allowing the 2022 appeals court ruling to stand.
The two lawsuits use different arguments.
The suit that the Supreme Court declined to hear was based on arguments about equal protection. Plaintiffs said that the Jim Crow-era authors of the Mississippi Constitution stripped voting rights for crimes they thought Black people were more likely to commit, including forgery, larceny and bigamy.
The lawsuit that the appeals court panel ruled on Friday is based on arguments that Mississippi is imposing cruel and unusual punishment with a lifetime ban on voting after some felony convictions.
“Mississippi stands as an outlier among its sister states, bucking a clear and consistent trend in our Nation against permanent disenfranchisement,” wrote Judges Carolyn Dineen King and James L. Dennis.
Under the Mississippi Constitution, people convicted of 10 specific felonies — including murder, forgery and bigamy — lose the right to vote. The state’s attorney general expanded the list to 22 crimes, including timber larceny and carjacking.
To have their voting rights restored, people convicted of any of the crimes must get a pardon from the governor or persuade lawmakers to pass individual bills just for them with two-thirds approval. Lawmakers in recent years have passed few of those bills, and they passed none this year.
In the ruling Friday, the two judges in favor of restoring voting rights — King and Dennis — were nominated by Democratic presidents and the one who disagreed — Judge Edith H. Jones — was nominated by a Republican president.
In her dissent, Jones wrote that when the Supreme Court ruled that the Equal Protection Clause does not bar states from permanently disenfranchising felons, justices said people should seek change through state legislatures.
“Today, the court turns that advice on its head,” Jones wrote. “No need to change the law through a laborious political process. The court will do it for you, so long as you rely on the Due Process Clause, rather than the Equal Protection Clause.”
A coalition of disparate groups supports reinstating voting rights to felons, including the libertarian Cato Institute, the American Probation and Parole Association, and the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mississippi branch of the NAACP.
veryGood! (46543)
Related
- Climate Advocacy Groups Say They’re Ready for Trump 2.0
- A Florida woman is missing in Spain after bizarre occurrences. Her loved ones want answers
- 'Sounded like a bomb': Ann Arbor house explosion injures 1, blast plume seen for miles
- Larry Bird makes rare public speaking appearances during NBA All-Star Weekend
- What is prize money for NBA Cup in-season tournament? Players get boost in 2024
- Abortion rights opponents and supporters seize on report that Trump privately pushes 16-week ban
- Court video of Navalny in Russian prison day before reported death seems to show Putin critic in good health
- Michael J. Fox Receives Standing Ovation During Appearance at 2024 BAFTAs
- My Little Pony finally hits the Toy Hall of Fame, alongside Phase 10 and Transformers
- Flood watches issued as another round of wet winter storms hits California
Ranking
- Mississippi woman pleads guilty to stealing Social Security funds
- When does 'American Idol' start? 2024 premiere date, time, judges, where to watch Season 22
- Death and redemption in an American prison
- Taylor Swift posts video of Travis Kelce and her parents accidentally going clubbing after 2024 Super Bowl
- Katherine Schwarzenegger Gives Birth, Welcomes Baby No. 3 With Chris Pratt
- Jaromir Jagr’s return to Pittsburgh ends with his No. 68 being retired — and catharsis
- Convicted killer who fled from a Phoenix-area halfway house is back in custody 4 days later
- Trump hawks $399 branded shoes at 'Sneaker Con,' a day after a $355 million ruling against him
Recommendation
-
Florida man’s US charges upgraded to killing his estranged wife in Spain
-
‘Oppenheimer’ aims for a record haul as stars shine at the British Academy Film Awards
-
Devastating injuries. Sometimes few consequences. How frequent police crashes wreck lives.
-
Former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki's Son Found Dead at 19 at UC Berkeley
-
Taylor Swift Politely Corrects Security’s Etiquette at Travis Kelce’s Chiefs Game
-
How slain Las Vegas journalist Jeff German may have helped capture his own killer
-
American woman goes missing in Spain shortly after man disables cameras
-
Pioneering Skier Kasha Rigby Dead in Avalanche at 54