Tens of thousands of Mississippi residents are prohibited from partaking in the nation’ s democratic process— most of whom are Black, according to the Mississippi Free Press.
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A Mississippi appeals court overturned a Jim Crow law imposing a lifetime voting ban on people convicted of certain crimes.
A 2-1 decision Friday ruled that disenfranchising an individual who has paid their debt to society is “unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment within the meaning of the Eighth Amendment.”
Tens of thousands of Mississippi residents are prohibited from partaking in the nation’s democratic process — most of whom are Black, according to the Mississippi Free Press.
The appellate court ruled that barring ex-convicts from voting constitutes ongoing punishment and assures they “will never be fully rehabilitated.” The practice further “serves no protective function to society,” U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge James L. Dennis wrote on behalf of the court’s majority.
Article 12, Section 241 of the Mississippi Constitution previously held that those convicted of crimes including murder, rape, bribery, theft, perjury or bigamy forfeit their right to vote.
The law dates back to 1890, but was upheld by a circuit court in 2022. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of that case in June, much to the chagrin of Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor.
In Friday’s reversal, Mississippi jurists said the Magnolia State had become an “outlier” among its 35 “sister states” that have disavowed discrimination against ex-cons.
“In the last 50 years, a national consensus has emerged among the state legislatures against permanently disenfranchising those who have satisfied their judicially imposed sentences and thus repaid their debts to society,” the appellate court said.
Mississippi has two Republican senators and a GOP governor — all of whom are white. The state is represented in the House of Representatives by three white Republican congressmen and one Black Democrat.
Mississippians voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. The former president, who’s the Republican party’s leading candidate for 2024, polled well throughout the south during his campaigns.
The nation’s ongoing battle over voter suppression heated up following the 2020 election when Trump claimed he’d been deprived a victory he deserved, without being able to prove those fraud allegations, many of which focused on minority districts. The former president was indicted earlier this week in connection to alleged election interference, but still insists he won.
Several states have revisited their election laws following Trump’s unsubstantiated claims.
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2023/08/04
© New York Daily News
A Mississippi appeals court overturned a Jim Crow law imposing a lifetime voting ban on people convicted of certain crimes.
A 2-1 decision Friday ruled that disenfranchising an individual who has paid their debt to society is “unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment within the meaning of the Eighth Amendment.”
Tens of thousands of Mississippi residents are prohibited from partaking in the nation’s democratic process — most of whom are Black, according to the Mississippi Free Press.
The appellate court ruled that barring ex-convicts from voting constitutes ongoing punishment and assures they “will never be fully rehabilitated.” The practice further “serves no protective function to society,” U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge James L. Dennis wrote on behalf of the court’s majority.
Article 12, Section 241 of the Mississippi Constitution previously held that those convicted of crimes including murder, rape, bribery, theft, perjury or bigamy forfeit their right to vote.
The law dates back to 1890, but was upheld by a circuit court in 2022. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of that case in June, much to the chagrin of Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor.
In Friday’s reversal, Mississippi jurists said the Magnolia State had become an “outlier” among its 35 “sister states” that have disavowed discrimination against ex-cons.
“In the last 50 years, a national consensus has emerged among the state legislatures against permanently disenfranchising those who have satisfied their judicially imposed sentences and thus repaid their debts to society,” the appellate court said.
Mississippi has two Republican senators and a GOP governor — all of whom are white. The state is represented in the House of Representatives by three white Republican congressmen and one Black Democrat.
Mississippians voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. The former president, who’s the Republican party’s leading candidate for 2024, polled well throughout the south during his campaigns.
The nation’s ongoing battle over voter suppression heated up following the 2020 election when Trump claimed he’d been deprived a victory he deserved, without being able to prove those fraud allegations, many of which focused on minority districts. The former president was indicted earlier this week in connection to alleged election interference, but still insists he won.
Several states have revisited their election laws following Trump’s unsubstantiated claims.
_____
2023/08/04
© New York Daily News
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