The Mississippi law the court upheld is the harshest felon disenfranchisement law in the country. It prevents nearly 240,000 people from voting—more than 10 percent of the state’s voting-age population, including 16 percent of Black residents.

I wonder what motivated the judges…

The full Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas and has become infamous for its fiercely right-wing opinions, upheld a state law dating back to 1890 that permanently prevents Mississippians from voting if they have been convicted of a list of 22 criminal categories, encompassing about 100 specific crimes, that include timber larceny, bigamy, and writing a bad check. The opinion overturns the ruling of a three-judge panel on the Fifth Circuit from August 2023 which invalidated Mississippi’s law, saying that it violated the 8th Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

The full Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas and has become infamous for its fiercely right-wing racist opinions

FTFY.

GoP keeps cheating

Well, we can’t have felons voting. They should only be allowed to run for president!

I wonder if it’s finally starting to sink in for liberals why the “far left” was never interested in candidates who rambled about “bipartisanship” and “reaching across the aisle” and “compromise” with the far right.

upheld a state law dating back to 1890 that permanently prevents Mississippians from voting if they have been convicted of a list of 22 criminal categories, encompassing about 100 specific crimes, that include timber larceny, bigamy, and writing a bad check. The opinion overturns the ruling of a three-judge panel on the Fifth Circuit from August 2023 which invalidated Mississippi’s law, saying that it violated the 8th Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

…Judge Edith Jones, an appointee of Ronald Reagan, said that the earlier court decision “would thwart the ability of the State’s legislature and citizens to determine their voting qualifications, and would require federal courts overtly to make legislative choices that, in our federal system, belong at the State level.”

The law was adopted in 1890 as part of a new state constitution that was specifically designed to uphold white supremacy. “Let us tell the truth if it bursts the bottom of the Universe,” Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Solomon S. Calhoon said at the constitutional convention in Jackson. “We came here to exclude the Negro. Nothing short of this will answer.”