TALLAHASSEE, Fla. _ A federal appeals court upheld a judge's decision against restrictions imposed by Florida lawmakers last year limiting a ballot measure allowing felons to register to vote, ruling that it's unconstitutional to force felons to first pay off their financial obligations before registering.
Wednesday's ruling by three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta applies only to the 17 felons who sued the state last year, arguing they were too poor to pay back all fines, fees and restitution to victims before voting.
Passed by nearly two-thirds of Floridians who voted in 2018, the Amendment 4 ballot measure restored the right to vote to felons who completed "all terms of sentence." Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill last year into law defining "all terms" to include all financial obligations, and the Florida Supreme Court agreed.
But that requirement violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the judges wrote in Wednesday's ruling. They added that it was "undeniable" that the requirement punished poor felons, while wealthier felons wouldn't be similarly denied the opportunity to register because they can afford to pay their obligations.
"Here, these plaintiffs are punished more harshly than those who committed precisely the same crime _ by having their right to vote taken from them likely for their entire lives," the judges wrote. "And this punishment is linked not to their culpability, but rather to the exogenous fact of their wealth."
DeSantis' spokeswoman, Helen Aguirre Ferre, wrote on Twitter that he disagreed with the decision and would appeal it to the full appellate court.
The ruling sets up a long and expected legal battle that both sides agree could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Last month, the three judges asked tough questions of DeSantis' lawyers, wondering how the law could legally create two classes of felons: those who can afford to pay _ and those who can't.
"Isn't it punitive to say, 'I will re-enfranchise this group, but not re-enfranchise this group?' " Judge Stanley Marcus asked.
Days after the hearing, two key Republican lawmakers said they would not make substantive changes to Amendment 4 during this legislative session, since they didn't expect the legal battle to be resolved until it reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
That decision to not take action will essentially prevent thousands of felons from registering to vote in the 2020 election.
The case is set to go to trial in April.
