U.S. Supreme Court leaves curbs on ex-felon voting

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday (July 16) ruled that Florida can bar ex-felons from voting if they owe court fines. The court’s decision rebuffs a bid by voting rights advocates to block a Republican-backed Florida law that says ex-felons must pay court fines in order to vote. Liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan dissented from Thursday’s decision. Sotomayor wrote that the Court’s action prevents thousands of otherwise eligible voters from casting ballots quote “simply because they are poor” and that the decision “continues a trend of condoning disenfranchisement. The conservative-majority court’s decision goes against an earlier judge’s ruling, which declared the law a quote “unconstitutional pay-to-vote system.” It adds to the already-contentious debate over the reenfranchisement of felons in Florida. Opponents have argued the law, signed by Trump ally Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, goes against a 2018 voter-passed amendment, which granted voting rights to felons who served their time and weren’t convicted of murder or sex crimes. Voting rights advocates and Democrats have accused Republicans in a number of states of passing laws aimed at suppressing the voting ability of groups who tend to support Democrats. This comes ahead of the November 3rd election, in which Republican President Donald Trump is seeking a second term.
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World News from Reuters

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