Greenwood Commonwealth. January 30, 2024.
Editorial: Court Considers Felony Voting Case
It is very unlikely that the full 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will agree with last year’s ruling by three of its judges that Mississippi’s permanent voting ban for people convicted of certain felonies is unconstitutional.
The three-judge panel, by a 2-1 vote, said the ban violated the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. But the full 5th Circuit bench, according to Mississippi Today, set aside that ruling and held a hearing on the case on Jan. 23.
The 5th Circuit probably is the most conservative appeals court in the federal system. One reason it’s unlikely to uphold the 2-1 ruling is because the full court heard a different case about Mississippi’s felony voting ban in 2020.
That case claimed that because Mississippi’s original intent in the 19th century was to keep Black people from voting, the ban was illegal now. But the 5th Circuit said legislators and voters had amended the Constitution in the 20th century to remove its racial motives.
The Jan. 23 hearing was interesting because it produced this curious defense of the felony voting ban from a Mississippi assistant attorney general, who told the judges: “Permanent disenfranchisement is not punitive and does not fall under the Eighth Amendment at all.”
The state’s position that the voting ban is not cruel and unusual punishment is defensible. The Eighth Amendment got into the Bill of Rights because of the horrible and violent ways English leaders treated lawbreakers — things like chopping off the hand of a burglar or burning people at the stake. The loss of the right to vote does not approach the cruelty of those penalties.
However, “permanent disenfranchisement” most certainly is punitive. It cannot be anything else. But the assistant attorney general contended that it is nothing more than a regulation for voting, similar to a residency requirement. That argument just doesn’t stand up to common sense.
Again, the 5th Circuit is likely to reject the effort to throw out Mississippi’s felony voting ban. An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is likely.
Ideally, a lifetime voting ban would be reserved for those who commit the most heinous crimes, such as murder, rape or child molestation. Those deserve serious punishment.
Mississippi, however, also strips voting rights from felons convicted of far less serious crimes, such as theft, bribery and bigamy. So no matter what the 5th Circuit decides, the proper question to ask is whether the law is fair. Why do some felons lose the right to vote while others, such as drug dealers, retain theirs? Should felons be unable to vote for the rest of their lives?
If the Legislature ever gets around to passing a citizen initiative bill, this topic certainly would be worthy of a referendum.
END
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
