"Civil rights groups are urging a federal appeals court to uphold a ruling that found Mississippi's lifetime felon disenfranchisement law, which ranks among the harshest in the nation, violates the Constitution.
In August, a panel of judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit blocked Mississippi's felon disenfranchisement law in a 2–1 ruling, finding that the state's lifetime voting ban for those convicted of certain crimes constituted cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. Mississippi Republican Attorney General Lynn Fitch successfully petitioned the full 5th Circuit for an en banc rehearing."
"The drafters of Mississippi's 1890 constitution admitted that they intentionally chose a list of crimes they believed most likely to lead to the disenfranchisement of black residents, such as forgery and bigamy. Rape and murder were not added to the list, which now includes 22 offenses, until 1968.
"Its historical origins in noxious, intentional racial discrimination offend the dignity of the individual and society," the brief says. "Its mandatory nature and lack of an accessible, non-arbitrary path to reentry make it functionally irrevocable—even for minor offenses that carry short terms of imprisonment, like writing a bad check for $100—and thus grossly disproportionate.""
