Florida Supreme Court Ignores Will of the People, Re-Imposes Restrictions on Felony Voting
In 2018, the voters of Florida approved Amendment 4 to the state constitution by a sixty-four percent majority. That Amendment restored the right to vote to almost all felons once they had served their time in prison, on parole and/or probation.
Again, sixty-four percent of Florida voters approved this measure. That amounted to over five million people.
But just this month, the Florida Supreme Court joined Florida’s far right Republican-dominated legislature and its reactionary Republican Governor Ron DeSantis in ignoring that plebiscite entirely. That’s right. The Supreme Court of Florida did not bother to “defy,” comment on or even notice the vote exercised by the people. To do so would have required them to at least acknowledge that such a vote had occurred. No. As you will see below, this court acted as though the people of Florida do not exist and simply ignored them altogether.
This High Court has declared that felons’ voting rights should not and will not be restored unless and until they have paid any and all money owed to the judicial system, including court costs, fees and fines and restitution to victims of their crimes.
With this ruling, the Florida Supreme Court has made it clear that the express will of…
