Court: Mississippi can continue blocking felons from voting

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A conservative federal appeals court has upheld Mississippi’s removal of voting rights from people convicted of certain felonies. Attorneys who challenged the provision argued that authors of the state’s 1890 constitution showed racist intent in setting the disenfranchising felonies by choosing crimes they thought were more likely to be committed by Black people. The Mississippi Center for Justice brought the lawsuit. Attorney Rob McDuff says the center will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Wednesday’s ruling by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. A majority of the appeals court agreed with state attorneys’ argument the Mississippi “cured any discriminatory taint” decades ago by broadening the list of disenfranchising crimes.