Federal appeals court won’t lift block on Florida law making it harder for ex-felons to vote

A federal appeals court in Florida has declined to review a decision it made in February blocking a state law requiring former felons to pay back all legal financial obligations before they vote.

The court’s decision Tuesday, a setback for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, is the latest development in a series of legal challenges concerning the Republican-led effort to first make ex-felons pay court-ordered fines and fees in order to exercise their right to vote, which was given to them in a 2018 amendment.

In February, a three-judge panel of the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a preliminary injunction from a district court that allowed 17 former felons the ability to have their voting rights restored, even with unpaid fines, fees, and restitution.

The case, set to go to trial in district court in April, could apply to the estimated 1.4 million former felons in the Sunshine State who had their voting rights restored.

On Tuesday, the 11th Circuit denied DeSantis and Secretary of State Laurel Lee’s request for an “en banc” review, meaning by the full bench, of its February decision. Tuesday’s ruling said that no judge on the court requested a rehearing. The court also denied a rehearing by the three-judge panel.

“We are disappointed in the denial of a rehearing before the full court; none the less, the case is going to full trial in three weeks,” the governor’s communications office said in a statement provided to CNN. CNN has also reached out to Lee’s office.

In November 2018, nearly 65% of Florida voters approved Amendment 4, restoring the right to vote for convicted felons after they complete “all terms of sentence,” including parole or probation, except those convicted of murder or a felony sexual offense.

After Amendment 4 went into effect in January 2019, the GOP-led Florida legislature passed and DeSantis signed a controversial law that clarified terms of sentence to include legal financial obligations such as fines, fees, and restitution.

A number of groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, filed a flurry of legal challenges on the behalf of the 17 plaintiffs, arguing that the law discriminated based on wealth and was thus unconstitutional. They argued that the law again disenfranchised Floridians who had their rights restored with Amendment 4.

In October, US District Court Judge Robert Hinkle granted a preliminary injunction, allowing the plaintiffs to register to vote regardless of fines and fees associated with their convictions. He rejected a motion from DeSantis and Lee’s lawyers to dismiss the case.

“Each of these plaintiffs have a constitutional right to vote so long as the state’s only reason for denying the vote is failure to pay an amount the plaintiff is genuinely unable to pay,” Hinkle wrote.

DeSantis and Lee appealed to the 11th Circuit, which affirmed Hinkle’s decision in February and said that the law violates the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.

In a report submitted in court, University of Florida professor Daniel Smith concluded that over 774,000 people, or about 77% of those with felony convictions, across the state’s 67 counties cannot register to vote because of outstanding financial obligations.

“The three-judge panel unanimously ruled that a person’s right to vote cannot be contingent on their ability to pay, and the full Eleventh Circuit unanimously declined to reconsider the panel’s decision,” Daniel Tilley, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, said in a statement Tuesday. “It is time for the state to give up on its quest to dismantle Amendment 4.”

A trial in the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida is scheduled to begin on April 27 after previously being delayed due to coronavirus concerns.