The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reaffirmed Thursday that a provision in the Mississippi Constitution that permanently bans certain felons from voting does not violate the Eighth or Fourteenth Amendments to the US Constitution.
This legal challenge was initiated by Dennis Hopkins, a disenfranchised voter, who argued that the lifetime voting ban constitutes “cruel and unusual punishment,” thereby contravening the Eighth Amendment. Hopkins also contended that the ban infringes upon the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Section 241 of the Mississippi Constitution specifies that individuals convicted of certain felonies, including murder, rape, bribery, arson, theft, forgery, embezzlement, or obtaining money or goods under false pretenses, are disqualified from voting for life.
The court’s decision drew on the 1974 U.S. Supreme Court case, Richardson v. Ramirez, which held that disenfranchising felons does not breach the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Fifth Circuit’s majority similarly interpreted Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment, which offers an exception for disenfranchisement due to “participation in rebellion, or other crime.”
Hopkins also argued that the lifetime voting ban is a punitive measure, thus falling under “cruel and unusual” punishment criteria of the Eighth Amendment. However, the court found that Section 241 regulates election qualifications, not criminal punishments, and therefore does not constitute a penal measure. Consequently, the court held that it is not a “cruel and unusual” punishment under the Eighth Amendment.
The judges advised that any change to this disenfranchisement policy should be pursued through legislative avenues rather than the judicial system. They suggested that affected voters advocate for amendments to their state constitutions through their representatives.
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