Republicans suffer SHOCKING blow in court in deep red state

this is democracy watch I'm joined by my co-host voting rights attorney and founder of democracy docket Mark Elias so Mark we've got some major and unexpected news out of Mississippi can you speak about uh the recent court decision there and what it did this is great news uh the the fifth circuit a notoriously conservative circuit just struck down Mississippi's lifetime ban on this on people voting after they have served their sentences for a whole range of felony convictions this is a landmark ruling this is a pro-democracy ruling it is a pro uh voting rights and a pro-criminal Justice ruling and it is something we all need to celebrate so how many more people in Mississippi will be able to vote now as a result of this decision so we don't have the exact numbers but you know the the statistics range uh from you know tens of thousands to frankly 10 of all mississippians which would be over 200 000. so we're talking about a ruling here that is going to sweepingly change the landscape of who is allowed to vote who after they serve their sentence is allowed to regain all the rights of citizenship by being able to cast a ballot so I know that we don't have specific numbers in terms of where these re-enfranchise people live and whatnot but do you have any indication of the impact that this could have on Mississippi State Legislative elections or even Congressional elections like could this could this actually result in in a swing of certain seats well look we know that the voters the the folks who are disenfranchised who will now be voters were were disproportionately black by large measures so so you know I would expect that the re-enfranchisement of large numbers of of disenfranchised individuals who have witnessed the criminal justice system and many of whom are disproportionate number are black certainly can change the outcome of Elections as they should these are folks who live in the community they pay taxes and they have a right to protect they have a right to participate in their elections now I presume this will be appealed to the Supreme Court do we have any indication as to how the Supreme Court might rule on a case like this so we they may appeal to the Supreme Court they may seek on Bonk review which is to ask the full fifth circuit to review this but either way this was a really really good job of lawyering I mean I have to say the the the the lawsuit that was brought here is different than a lot of the other lawsuits that we've brought involving re-enfranchisement it was brought under the Eighth Amendment which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment and what this fifth circuit panel said is that a lifetime disenfranchisement as a penalty is in fact unusual like just if you start with cruel and unusual if you start with the unusual it is unusual in this country that is not the trend that is not where most people are it's also cruel it's cruel because it is a penalty that deprives someone who has served their sentence from the ability to engage in Civic life so this case may go to the Supreme Court remember the Supreme Court only hears a fraction of the cases that are that people ask them to review they hear between 50 and 60 cases a term and there are thousands and thousands of cases vying for that so hopefully the Supreme Court will take a pass on this one and just to be clear if the Supreme Court does take a pass then then that's it this becomes precedent and and the decision is final that's it you have the fifth circuit you got the fifth circuit then you have the Supreme Court this fifth circuit has reversed and ordered the trial court to enter the judgment now are there other states with permanent disenfranchisement where this precedent uh assuming that it remains precedent could actually undo that practice look I think that Mississippi was an outlier in the sense of how extreme their disenfranchisement was but I think that it's a model you know the fact that the K oftentimes new legal theories start with the most egregious instances but then they take hold elsewhere and this is a very intriguing Theory because uh and Doctrine that's been adopted here because the Eighth Amendment jurisprudence talks about evolving sense of decency and so it it counts the whole notion of something being cruel and unusual is in the times in which you live and in the times in which we live there are a lot of States now that are very much outliers in how much they disenfranchise their citizens and unlike a lot of the other challenges that have not succeeded under the 14th and 15th amendment this eighth amendment has not been tried many places so I expect you're going to see more litigation bring this Theory other places and I expect that it will have success now are there other cases right now where Eighth Amendment claims are already working their way through the court as a means to undo this type of disenfranchisement and I and I understand that Mississippi is an outlier and they that there might not be other states with permanent disenfranchisement but do we have other Eighth Amendment claims look I think there will be I think that this is a relatively new ruling and I but I would expect in the near future to see similar claims brought in states around the country um and in some circuits that frankly are a lot more favorable than the fifth circuit you know we talk about the fifth circuit being extremely conservative among the most conservative Mississippi having among the worst uh disenfranchisement laws but there are lots of uh courts of appeals thanks to President Biden and his uh his nominees that are much more Pro voter are much more uh Pro uh Criminal Justice Reform and so I would expect that you will see more lawsuits like this coming right and and it's probably easier to swallow uh in terms of other more liberal courts seeing that even if even the fifth circuit could uh could manage to to recognize like the the cruelty in permanent disenfranchisement or some degree of disenfranchisement then of course other other uh you know other courts with more liberal majorities can have uh can have an easier go at that than even the fifth circuit did um that's right and that's why there's always this strategy of where do you bring these cases do you first bring a test case where you've got you know the most egregious facts even though it may be in a very conservative place with the upside of that if you win there you know then as you say it makes it easier elsewhere or do you go with maybe less egregious facts um in a place with a more favorable court and that this is one of the reasons why you know I always when people say yeah but Mark you're you know you're going to litigate in front of judges appointed by you know president Trump or conservative Supreme Court I always point out you know the Alabama case that we all keep talking about that was that was decided by a three judge kind of with two appointees by Donald Trump it was it was affirmed by the U.S Supreme Court a conservative court and so we can't give up on Democracy we can't give up on the courts and that's why I started democracy DACA to not give up on the courts and it's why these cases like this one out of Mississippi are so important because it shows that even a case out of Mississippi in the fifth circuit could be successful and by the way just as a quick aside for anybody who wants to read more about this case in democracy docket the link is right here on this screen so just hit that link I'll also put it in the post description um Mark you know I know we spoke about in terms of Mississippi's permanent disenfranchisement but are there other states where there are still practices of disenfranchising Voters that that are ripe for litigation absolutely absolutely look when we talk about you know again I'm excited because this theory of the eighth amendment is this Eighth Amendment Theory prevailed and it's such a such a strong one for our times when we talk about the the evolving sense of decency in community you know exceptions for punishment you know there's really no place left in our country for the disenfranchisement of people who have served their sentences we saw in conservative States like Florida where you know uh there was a ballot measure to re-enfranchise these folks which passed overwhelmingly and then you saw Rhonda Santos and the Republicans frustrated I I think that this is going to have wide application in a lot of states where conservative and Republicans uh have been trying to frustrate the ability of people to get re-enfranchised so I would look at States like like Florida I'd look at States like Texas um which is also in the fifth circuit and then I'd look at some other states uh in the Northeast that still have um disenfranchisement laws where the courts are are certainly more favorable and finally let's finish off with this uh can you speak more broadly about the Injustice of taking away somebody's right to vote once they have already served their time you know it is the most profound Injustice that one can do is take away someone's right to vote I mean the right to vote is the fundamental right that is preservative of all other rights that's what the U.S Supreme Court has said literally the right to vote is what gives you the ability to stand up and say you know what we ought to amend the state constitution in in Ohio we ought to elect Democrats we ought to elect Republicans right it is the thing that binds you to Civic life and when you take away someone's right to vote you take away their participation as a citizen in the Democratic process it weakens their ties to the community it weakens their re-entry into the community but it takes away something vital about what makes them an American what makes them a citizen and so we need to be as committed to the voting rights of people who have served their sentences we need to be as committed to their voting rights as we are to our own and to our neighbors and until that fight has been fought and been won we will not be living in a democracy that lives up to its best hopes and its ideals perfectly put mark thank you to you and your team for the work that you do to protect voting rights across the country for anybody watching if you want to help Mark and his team please sign up for democracy docket like I mentioned before it's the free news Outlet the mark founded to keep you up to date on everything voting in elections the link is right here on the screen it's also in the post description of this video I'm Brian Tyler Cohen I'm Mark Elias this is democracy watch [Music]

Channel: Brian Tyler Cohen

Views: 282,042

Keywords: Brian Tyler Cohen, Trump, Republicans, Democrats, brian cohen, politics, news, mississippi

Id: xWa2pIa6SFI

Length: 10min 32sec (632 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 11 2023