Mississippi’s Felon Disenfranchisement Ruled Unconstitutional

A provision in Mississippi’s constitution permanently barring people convicted of certain crimes from voting violates the US Constitution, a divided appeals court panel said Friday.

The Reconstruction-era provision was intended as punishment, and “violates society’s evolving standards of decency,” US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Judge James L. Dennis said, writing for the majority.

The ban constitutes cruel and unusual punishment because it “is disproportionate and inconsistent with the consensus against permanent disenfranchisement among state legislatures,” Dennis said. “The punishment of permanent disenfranchisement also contravenes the Eighth Amendment’s proportionality principle because it lacks a nexus with any legitimate ...