TBA Law Blog

TBA Law Blog

Court Declines to Consider Restrictions on Felon Voting in Florida

Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jul 17, 2020
News Type: U.S. Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court has left in place a court of appeals order that likely will prevent hundreds of thousands of felons in Florida from voting in the November election, National Public Radio reports. In 2018, Floridians voted to amend the state constitution to allow felons to vote. The amendment applied to felons who had completed their parole or probation periods and excluded any convicted of murder or sexual offenses. The legislature subsequently passed a law that conditioned the right to vote on the payment of all fees, fines and restitution. Two felons challenged the law and initially won in the district court, which found that most felons would be too poor to pay the amounts owed, if they could even find out what they owed. Earlier this month, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked felons from registering or voting. The felons appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which yesterday refused to lift the order.

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