The law, according to Chief Justice William Pryor, is not, in the opinion of the majority, a poll tax. Instead, “it promotes the full rehabilitation of returnees and ensures full satisfaction of the punishment imposed for crimes that have deprived criminals of the right to vote.”
“The fact that criminal sentences often include financial liabilities does not make this requirement ‘capricious or irrelevant,’” Pryor writes. “The monetary provisions of the sentence are no less part of the punishment that society imposes for a crime than the terms of imprisonment. Indeed, some criminals face substantial monetary fines, but with little or no prison sentences. ”
The ruling, delivered less than two months before the presidential election, marks a new chapter in an extensive legal battle for law in the state where President Donald
won in 2016 by less than 113,000 votes against Hillary Clinton, or 1.2% of the vote.
Earlier this year
US Supreme Court Says Florida May Enforce Law while the legal proceedings on its constitutionality are being finalized, which means that the rule is likely to be in force in the November elections.
Friday ruling
overturns US District Court decision Robert Hinkle, who said Florida’s law against those people who cannot pay violates the Constitution. Hinkle called the government procedure “an unconstitutional pay-per-vote system.”
Convicted criminals in Florida had their
voting rights restored with a constitutional amendment adopted in November 2018. Amendment 4, which allowed convicted criminals who met “all sentences” to vote, received almost 65% of the vote, which exceeds the required threshold of 60%.
After Amendment 4 went into effect in January 2019, the Florida Legislature under the leadership of the GOP passed and Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law a bill that clarifies “all conditions of punishment,” including legal financial obligations such as fines. fees and restitution.
Several groups, including the Legal Campaign Center and the American Civil Liberties Union,
filed a flurry of lawsuits arguing that the new law was unconstitutional and amounted to a “poll tax”.
Paul Smith, vice president of the Campaign Legal Center, called Friday’s decision “deeply disappointing.”
“While the full restoration of rights under Amendment 4 has become less likely to be implemented this fall, we will continue this fight for all Florida voters, so the full benefits of Amendment 4 will someday be realized,” Smith said in a statement. that “no one should be denied the observance of constitutional rights because he cannot afford to pay fines and fees.”
CNN’s Veronica Straquvalursi, Paul LeBlanc, and Caroline Kelly contributed to this report.
