Nineteen federal appellate judges are scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday on whether Mississippi can continue to permanently strip voting rights from people convicted of certain felonies, including nonviolent crimes for which they have served a complete sentence.
The outcome of the case will likely determine whether tens of thousands of people win back the right to vote. An immediate decision is not expected.
Criminal justice advocates won a major victory last August when a three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the ban violates the Constitution’s prohibition against “cruel and unusual” punishment. But the full 17-member circuit court vacated that ruling weeks later and scheduled Tuesday’s hearing.
Attorneys for the state argue that the voting ban is a “nonpunitive voting regulation” and that, even if it did constitute punishment, it isn’t cruel and unusual.
There won’t ever be enough people convicted of election-related fraud to matter, so all you’d be doing by taking away their right to vote is to reinforce the idea that the right to vote can be taken away.
Just because the number of offenders is negligible doesn’t mean they should continue to exercise that right after they’ve abused that same right to the detriment of others.