Mississippi Felons Seeking Voting Rights Win Class Status

Mississippi convicted felons won class status Feb. 13 in their suit to have their voting rights restored.

The state’s argument that class certification lacks utility has “practical appeal, but it finds no foothold in Rule 23’s text,” Judge Daniel P. Jordan III wrote for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 governs class actions.

The class includes tens of thousands of people convicted under Mississippi law and no longer incarcerated, attorney for the plaintiffs Jonathan Youngwood told Bloomberg Law. Youngwood is a partner in Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP’s New York ...