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US appeals court upholds Mississippi lifetime voting ban for certain felons

JURIST

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reaffirmed Thursday that a section of the Mississippi Constitution that banned felons from voting for life did not violate the Eighth or Fourteenth Amendments to the US Constitution and was thereby constitutional. In a landmark US Supreme Court case from the 1970s, Richarson v.

Felony 104
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US appeals court to reconsider decision striking down Mississippi Jim Crow-era voter disenfranchisement law

JURIST

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit agreed on Thursday to reconsider a decision from August that a provision of the Mississippi Constitution that permanently prevents people convicted of certain felonies from voting is unconstitutional. The court’s order vacated the previous decision until the matter is resolved.

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Lifetime voting ban for felony convictions isn’t punishment, 5th Circuit says in Eighth Amendment challenge

ABA Journal

A lifetime ban on voting by people convicted of some felonies in Mississippi does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment, a federal appeals court ruled…

Felony 98
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Only 1 out of 5 defendants in this Mississippi county get court-appointed lawyers before indictment

ABA Journal

The right to counsel is “tenuous” in a small Mississippi justice court in Yalobusha County, Mississippi, where two judges appointed lawyers for felony defendants in…

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US Supreme Court asked to review Mississippi’s felon disenfranchisement provision

JURIST

A petition was filed Friday with the US Supreme Court asking the Court to review the constitutionality of the felon disenfranchisement provision of Mississippi’s 1890 Constitution. ” Harness and Karriem were convicted of forgery and embezzlement in Mississippi.

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Court Upholds Jim Crow-era Voting Restrictions in Mississippi

The Crime Report

5th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Mississippi can continue to bar more than 10 percent of its citizens from voting, maintaining a Jim Crow-era provision that bars Mississippians convicted of felonies from taking part in elections, reports the Daily Journal.

Felony 105
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“Supreme Court’s decision on felony suffrage hinges on understanding of state amendment process”

HowAppealing

“Supreme Court’s decision on felony suffrage hinges on understanding of state amendment process”: Bobby Harrison has this essay online at Mississippi Today.

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