In a great win for democracy on Wednesday, a federal appeals court delivered a major blow to the efforts of politicians in Florida to thwart the historic Amendment 4.
Florida used to (and the operative phrase is “used to”) permanently disenfranchise all persons with felony convictions, a policy rooted in racism. It didn’t matter what you did, how old you were when you did it, or how long ago it happened. If you had a felony conviction, you were barred for voting for life unless the government decided to specifically pardon you, which for the most part didn’t happen.
Amendment 4 changed all that. In November 2018, Floridians from all walks of life came together and decided to end Florida’s policy of permanent disenfranchisement by changing the Florida Constitution. Sixty-five percent of Floridians voted for the amendment, which got more votes than any statewide candidate.
Then in a face-slap to the voting public, certain politicians passed and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a bill that required all people who were enfranchised by Amendment 4 to pay all of their legal fees and fines in order to get their right to vote back.
Florida is notorious for shifting the costs of its criminal justice system onto criminal defendants, and because people with past convictions have been prohibited from voting, they were unable to inject some real-world experience and expertise as to why this cost shifting was not just or sensible. And since Florida has no centralized system for tracking whether all of this money has been paid, the law made it next to impossible for impacted people to know how much they owe.
The Brennan Center sued in June 2019, along with the ACLU and NAACP Legal Defense Fund, arguing that the law violated the federal Constitution. A federal district court agreed, issuing a preliminary injunction forbidding Florida from prohibiting the registration of people with past convictions who couldn’t pay their legal fees and fines. The state of Florida, instead of taking the hint and finally doing what the people wanted, appealed.
Now, a unanimous three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the district court’s ruling, calling the law what it is: “the creation of a wealth classification that punishes those genuinely unable to pay fees, fines, and restitution more harshly than those able to pay — that is, it punishes more harshly solely on account of wealth — by withholding access to the ballot box.”
The court went on, concluding, “The long and short of it is that once a state provides an avenue to ending the punishment of disenfranchisement — as the voters of Florida plainly did — it must do so consonant with the principles of equal protection [].”
The governor’s office has said that he will appeal again, asking the full 11th Circuit to rehear the case. The longer the state drags out the litigation, the closer we get to the next election with a large number of people wrongly being kept from registering to vote.
Meanwhile, the case will continue to move forward in the district court towards a permanent solution. And the appeals court’s new ruling stands today as an important victory for voters — and democracy.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment. We are presently looking for 464 new monthly donors in the next 8 days.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy