It's About Suppression, Con't

As I said two weeks ago, the fight for restoring voting rights to Florida felons who have served their time is far from over, and this week that fight took a dismal turn thanks to SCOTUS.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Thursday to overturn a federal appeals court’s decision that blocked some Florida felons’ eligibility to participate in elections — a major blow to efforts to restore voting rights to as many as 1.4 million people in the battleground state.

The decision lets stand a temporary halt by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit of a judge’s order that had cleared the way for hundreds of thousands of felons in the state to register to vote.

In early July, the Campaign Legal Center in Washington petitioned the high court to lift the stay, arguing that the appeals court decision had “thrown the election rules into chaos.”

But on Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied that request. Three liberal justices noted their dissent, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor writing that the court’s decision “prevents thousands of otherwise eligible voters from participating in Florida’s primary election simply because they are poor.”

Paul Smith, a lawyer with the Campaign Legal Center, said he was “deeply disappointed” with the decision.

A spokesperson for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said earlier this month that his office would not comment on the ongoing legal matter until there is an appeals court ruling.

Although it's an unsigned order, it's clear that Chief Justice John Roberts, who has been openly hostile to voting rights since his appointment by Dubya 15 years ago, has again sided with the court's conservatives to maintain Florida's poll tax on Black felons.

Because that's what this is, a poll tax on Black felons.