Voting ban gets another review
In August, three judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Mississippi’s lifetime voting ban for certain felony convictions was cruel and unusual punishment.
The ruling is on hold because the state has asked the full 5th Circuit bench, up to 16 judges, to review the case. And it’s a good bet that the review will reject the three-judge panel’s ruling and say that Mississippi’s Constitution does not violate the law.
That’s what the 5th Circuit majority said in 2022, the last time it heard a case on the voting ban. Given that the 5th Circuit is one of the most conservative courts in the country, there’s little reason to expect a different outcome this time.
Judges nominated by Republican presidents have a solid majority on the 5th Circuit, but two of the three judges who delivered the August ruling were nominated by Democratic presidents. (The third judge dissented from the ruling.)
The August ruling may have gone too far in describing the felony conviction ban as cruel and unusual punishment. It was a clear reference to the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment, which addressed excessively harsh physical punishments — not the denial of voting rights.
However, the ruling correctly observed that a permanent voting ban for certain felonies “ensures that they will never be fully rehabilitated, continues to punish them beyond the terms their culpability requires and serves no protective function to society.”
The proper solution to deciding who is banned from voting should come from the Mississippi Legislature, with consent of the voters, by amending the state Constitution.
The current list of felonies that bar a convict from voting is outdated. It bans people convicted of false pretenses, forgery or bigamy from voting, for example. But it allows people convicted of far more serious crimes such as drug sales or child molestation to keep voting.
Except for a few of the most serious crimes against society, voting rights should be restored upon completion of a convict’s full sentence, including parole or probation. Mississippi talks about the importance of helping ex-cons avoid a return to prison. This would be a small gesture to show that the state means it.
— Jack Ryan, McComb Enterprise-Journal
Two massive universes collide
The biggest news of the four-week-old NFL season is taking place nowhere near football fields. It’s the curiosity, rapidly evolving into an obsession, over whether megastar entertainer Taylor Swift is really serious about a relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
Swift has been in a private box for Kelce’s last two games, including Sunday night’s contest at the New York Jets. NBC’s telecast regularly included shots of her visiting with other celebrities and cheering on the Chiefs.
Some people have joked that the relationship is bringing about the collision of two massive universes that have little in common — the NFL’s sports dominance and the loyalty of millions of “Swifties,” who love their singer but may not know much about football.
Kelce’s jersey sales have quadrupled since he and Swift became friends, and some Swift fans actually bought tickets to Sunday night’s game in New York in hopes of getting a glimpse of the singer. It’s entertaining but a bit surreal.
— Jack Ryan, McComb Enterprise-Journal
