Cruel and unusual? Supreme Court declines to review Mississippi voting ban for convicted felons
USA TodayJAN 14
Supreme Court Won't Review Mississippi's Felon Voting Ban
Above: The US Supreme Court building in Washington, DC. Image copyright: Mandel Ngan/Contributor/AFP via Getty Images
The Spin
Left narrative
A lifetime voting ban imposes an exceptionally severe penalty that denies the democratic core of American citizenship — especially for those who have completed their sentences and returned to society as productive citizens. The ban perpetuates racial discrimination from the Jim Crow era and stands as a national outlier in its severity.
Right narrative
The state has the constitutional authority to determine who can vote, even if it denies voting rights to people convicted of felonies. This ban is meant to determine, at the state level, who's qualified to vote and not to punish anyone. Reversing the ban should be left to state legislators and citizens rather than federal courts.