Felons in Florida Must Pay Fines Before Voting, Appeals Court Rules

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that felons out of prison in Florida must repay all court fines or fees related to their criminal sentences before they can vote. In a historic voting rights case, the decision taken by the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta represented a major legal and political victory for Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and GOP lawmakers. They had limited the voting rights of felons last year under a new state law to those who already paid their fines or fees and served their prison sentences. The appeals court reversed a ruling this summer by a federal judge in Tallahassee, who called Florida’s system pay to vote and said it was unconstitutional.

At stake were voting rights for nearly 1 million felons who owe court imposed fines, fees and restitution to their criminal victims. Many can’t afford to pay or don’t know how much they owe, the trial judge determined. The deadline to register to vote in November in Florida is Oct. 5, meaning felons would have to pay all overdue court costs by then. In a rare move, the case was decided by the entire group of federal appeals judges in Atlanta, not just a three judge panel. Such hearings typically occur only a few times each year and are reserved for cases deemed complex or especially significant. A three judge panel in the same court had previously ruled at least twice against Florida’s governor regarding preliminary issues in the case. The full court ruled 6-4 in favor of DeSantis.

In its 200-page decision, written by Chief Circuit Judge William Pryor, the court said the restrictions were not illegally discriminatory toward the poor and were constitutional. Even if felons don’t know or can’t easily determine whether or how much they may owe, Florida is not obligated to help them or allow them to vote. The majority said court fees and fines are punishments, not taxes. The case was so sensitive decided just over seven weeks ahead of November’s elections that Pryor and another judge wrote another section of the opinion defending their decision in the context of history and judicial heroism.

Pryor wrote, our duty is not to reach the outcomes we think will please whomever comes to sit on the court of human history. We must respect the political decisions made by the people of Florida and their officials within the bounds of our supreme law, regardless of whether we agree with those decisions.

The dissenting judges said the state’s system was stacked against felons and said they did not believe the majority decision will be viewed as kindly by history. Florida imposes substantial, often exorbitant, financial obligations on people convicted of felonies the overwhelming majority of whom are indigent with no exceptions for those unable to pay.

A spokesman for a group that had represented 17 felons in the case called the verdict deeply disappointing.

Paul Smith, vice president at the Washington-based Campaign Legal Center said, nobody should ever be denied their constitutional rights because they can’t afford to pay fines and fees.