Civil rights groups are urging a federal appeals court to uphold a ruling that found Mississippi's lifetime felon disenfranchisement law, which ranks among the harshest in the nation, violates the Constitution.
In August, a panel of judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit blocked Mississippi's felon disenfranchisement law in a 2–1 ruling, finding that the state's lifetime voting ban for those convicted of certain crimes constituted cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. Mississippi Republican Attorney General Lynn Fitch successfully petitioned the full 5th Circuit for an en banc rehearing.
