Federal Court Issues Groundbreaking Decision Overturning MS.

[Tennesseer]

FEDERAL COURT ISSUES GROUNDBREAKING DECISION OVERTURNING MISSISSIPPI’S LIFETIME VOTING BAN

Court rules Mississippi’s lifetime voting ban violates Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, restoring the right to vote to tens of thousands of Mississippians

JACKSON, Miss. – Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that Mississippi’s lifetime voting ban for people with disqualifying felony convictions who have completed their sentences is cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The decision overturns Section 241 of the Mississippi Constitution of 1890, which imposed a lifetime voting ban for citizens who have completed their sentences for certain felony convictions. The right to vote will be restored to tens of thousands of Mississippians following the decision.

“By severing former offenders from the body politic forever, Section 241 [of Article XII of the Mississippi Constitution of 1890] ensures that they will never be fully rehabilitated, continues to punish them beyond the term their culpability requires, and serves no protective function to society. It is thus a cruel and unusual punishment,” the decision states.

The Court said, “Mississippi stands as an outlier among its sister states, bucking a clear and consistent trend in our [n]ation against permanent disenfranchisement.”

Rest of article here: FEDERAL COURT ISSUES GROUNDBREAKING DECISION OVERTURNING MISSISSIPPI’S LIFETIME VOTING BAN

[thyme4change]

In Australia, they go into the prisons and everyone has to vote. I know the history behind the lifetime bans - but I still can’t see how they are being justified these days.

[happyhoix]

Aug 10, 2023 13:51:18 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

In Australia, they go into the prisons and everyone has to vote. I know the history behind the lifetime bans - but I still can’t see how they are being justified these days.

They can’t, unless you’re trying to restrict voting to just the white landowners. Lot of people of color/poor people who are not going to vote the way the wealthy people want them to.

Same reason the mostly black voting districts in the South get the least number of polling places possible.

Jim Crow by another name.