Ruling on FL law denying voting rights of convicted felons [11th Circuit] News
Ruling on FL law denying voting rights of convicted felons [11th Circuit]

Johnson et al. v. Governor of the State of Florida, United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, April 12, 2005 [allowing the state of Florida to continue requiring released convicted felons to apply to a state agency to restore their voting rights]. Excerpt:

Florida's felon disenfranchisement provision is not a violation of the Equal Protection Clause under the standard the Court adopted in Hunter. Florida's re-enactment of the felon disenfranchisement provision in the 1968 Constitution conclusively demonstrates that the state would enact this provision even without an impermissible motive and did enact the provision without an impermissible motive. The state has met its burden as a matter of law by substantively reenacting the law for race-neutral reasons.

Read the full text of the opinion here [PDF]. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.