The US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a Mississippi constitutional provision dating back to the 1890 Jim Crow era. The provision, known as Section 241, permanently disenfranchised individuals convicted of certain felonies. Judge James Dennis, writing for the majority, maintained that the 1890 Mississippi Constitution was clear in its intention to “ensure the political supremacy of the white race.” In his view, Section 241 violated the 8th Amendment prohibition of “cruel and unusual punishment.”
In the majority opinion, Dennis wrote: “Mississippi denies this precious right to a large class of its citizens, automatically, mechanically, and with no thought given to whether it is proportionate as punishment for an amorphous and partial list of crimes. In so excluding former offenders from a basic aspect of democratic life, often long after their sentences have been served, Mississippi inflicts a disproportionate punishment that has been rejected by a majority of the states.”
Nonetheless, Judge Edith Jones took a different stance in her dissent, claiming that the ruling ignored “text, precedent, and common sense to secure its preferred outcome.”
The ruling was welcomed by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), with Mississippi State Office Director Waikinya Clanton recognizing it as an important step to “restore dignity and respect to the voice of the disenfranchised voter in Mississippi.” Clanton’s full statement can be read here.
Felon disenfranchisement laws have a long and controversial history in the Southern United States, often associated with the Jim Crow era of racially discriminatory legislation. Despite its roots in the Reconstruction Period after the American Civil War, this discriminatory framework continued well after the end of Jim Crow in 1968 with the passage of the Fair Housing Act, Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights Act.
As The Sentencing Project has found, Mississippi disenfranchises almost 11% of its voting population due to this law, disproportionately impacting Black Americans who make up 59% of the state’s disenfranchised population. Notably, the US Supreme Court declined to review a similar case challenging Section 241 in 2022.
You can read the original news on this ruling here.