ABA Journal
"Mississippi’s lifetime ban on voting for felons convicted of some crimes serves no legitimate penological purpose and violates their rights under the Eighth Amendment, a federal appeals court has ruled.
In a 2-1 Aug. 4 opinion, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans struck down a provision of the Mississippi Constitution known as Section 241. The provision, with current amendments, mandates lifetime disenfranchisement for people convicted of “murder, rape, bribery, theft, arson, obtaining money or goods under false pretense, perjury, forgery, embezzlement or bigamy.”
The appeals court said Mississippi should be barred from enforcing Section 241 against six plaintiffs who had completed their sentences and a class of similarly situated people.
The Mississippi Constitution as enacted in 1890 had a goal “to ensure the political supremacy of the white race,” the appeals court said. Section 241 targeted crimes thought to more often be committed by Black men, according to the 5th Circuit.
The Mississippi Constitution created a “safety net” by allowing restoration of voting rights for any person with a two-thirds vote of both houses of the legislature. That provision could have been used to benefit white people who were disenfranchised, the appeals court said."
This article was originally posted in the The ABA Journal
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