'This Will Not Do,' Federal Judge Says of Florida's Voter-Restoration Process
U.S. District Judge Mark Walker of the Northern District of Florida in Tallahassee issued a permanent injunction requiring Florida's Executive Clemency Board to establish a new voting rights restoration process for former felons by April 26.
March 28, 2018 at 11:21 AM
4 minute read
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the state of Florida to clear a path for restoring voting rights to former felons who've served their time.
U.S. District Judge Mark Walker of the Northern District of Florida issued a permanent injunction requiring Florida's Executive Clemency Board to establish a new voting rights restoration process for released felons by April 26.
“This Court is not the Vote-Restoration Czar. It does not pick and choose who may receive the right to vote and who may not. Nor does it write the rules and regulations for the Executive Clemency Board. Instead, this Court possesses the well-known and unsurprising 'province and duty . . . to say what the law is,'” Walker wrote. “And this Court possesses the unremarkable discretion to find a means for the Board to comply with the law.”
The ruling comes in a lawsuit James Michael Hand and others filed in March 2017 against Gov. Rick Scott and the clemency board alleging that there are arbitrary barriers to restoring voting rights that violate the U.S. Constitution.
Walker, sitting in Tallahassee, found fault with the state's system but said he did not have the authority to authorize Hand's suggested solution. “Plaintiffs would have this Court restore the right to vote to any former felon who has completed her whole sentence and a uniformly imposed five- or seven-year waiting period,” Walker said. “But such relief is beyond the scope of this Court's authority.”
At the same time, the state “essentially repackage[s] the current scheme into proposed remedies permitting the Governor and Board to do, as the Governor described, 'whatever we want' in denying voting rights to hundreds of thousands of their constituents,” Walker wrote. “This will not do. And Defendants' proposed remedy to abandon the whole vote-restoration scheme does not pass constitutional muster.”
Walker pointed to guidance from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. “If binding precedent spanning decades is to guide this Court—as it must—then an injunction must ensue to prevent further infringement,” Walker ruled. “Florida's vote-restoration scheme can no longer violate Plaintiffs' fundamental First Amendment rights.”
Walker ordered the board to establish “specific and neutral criteria to direct vote-restoration decisions,” and “meaningful, specific, and expeditious time constraints” for the voting rights restoration process. He suggested no one should have to wait more than an election cycle for a decision on their application. The judge said this relief “is appropriate to ensure that Florida's vote-restoration scheme is no longer based on unfettered discretion.”
Fair Elections Legal Network and the law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll represent the plaintiffs.
“Today the Court has ordered Defendants to make meaningful changes to Florida's voting rights restoration scheme that will eliminate the risk of arbitrary and discriminatory decision-making and not merely serve as smoke screens,” Jon Sherman, senior counsel at the Fair Elections Legal Network, said in a news release Tuesday. “This is a victory for the principle that the right to vote cannot be subjected to officials' gut instincts and whims. We are also heartened that the Court prevented Florida from following through on its threat to become the only state in the nation with an irrevocable lifetime ban on voting for all former felons—what the Court called 'the ultimate arbitrary act.'”
Ted Leopold of Cohen Milstein issued a statement in the same news release. “This ruling continues to shed sunlight on what we as citizens hold so precious in our democracy, the right of all citizens to exercise their right to vote,” said Leopold, a partner and chair of the firm's catastrophic injury & wrongful death practice.
Attorney General Pam Bondi represented the governor and the board. The AG's spokeswoman said by email, “We are reviewing the ruling.”
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllVedder Price Shareholder Javier Lopez Appointed to Miami Planning, Zoning & Appeals Board
2 minute readCrypto Entrepreneur Claims Justice Department’s Software Crackdown Violates US Constitution
4 minute readTrending Stories
- 1Reviewing Judge Merchan's Unconditional Discharge
- 2With New Civil Jury Selection Rule, Litigants Should Carefully Weigh Waiver Risks
- 3Young Lawyers Become Old(er) Lawyers
- 4Caught In the In Between: A Legal Roadmap for the Sandwich Generation
- 5Top 10 Developments, Lessons, and Reminders of 2024
Who Got The Work
J. Brugh Lower of Gibbons has entered an appearance for industrial equipment supplier Devco Corporation in a pending trademark infringement lawsuit. The suit, accusing the defendant of selling knock-off Graco products, was filed Dec. 18 in New Jersey District Court by Rivkin Radler on behalf of Graco Inc. and Graco Minnesota. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi, is 3:24-cv-11294, Graco Inc. et al v. Devco Corporation.
Who Got The Work
Rebecca Maller-Stein and Kent A. Yalowitz of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer have entered their appearances for Hanaco Venture Capital and its executives, Lior Prosor and David Frankel, in a pending securities lawsuit. The action, filed on Dec. 24 in New York Southern District Court by Zell, Aron & Co. on behalf of Goldeneye Advisors, accuses the defendants of negligently and fraudulently managing the plaintiff's $1 million investment. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick, is 1:24-cv-09918, Goldeneye Advisors, LLC v. Hanaco Venture Capital, Ltd. et al.
Who Got The Work
Attorneys from A&O Shearman has stepped in as defense counsel for Toronto-Dominion Bank and other defendants in a pending securities class action. The suit, filed Dec. 11 in New York Southern District Court by Bleichmar Fonti & Auld, accuses the defendants of concealing the bank's 'pervasive' deficiencies in regards to its compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and the quality of its anti-money laundering controls. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, is 1:24-cv-09445, Gonzalez v. The Toronto-Dominion Bank et al.
Who Got The Work
Crown Castle International, a Pennsylvania company providing shared communications infrastructure, has turned to Luke D. Wolf of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani to fend off a pending breach-of-contract lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 25 in Michigan Eastern District Court by Hooper Hathaway PC on behalf of The Town Residences LLC, accuses Crown Castle of failing to transfer approximately $30,000 in utility payments from T-Mobile in breach of a roof-top lease and assignment agreement. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Susan K. Declercq, is 2:24-cv-13131, The Town Residences LLC v. T-Mobile US, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Wilfred P. Coronato and Daniel M. Schwartz of McCarter & English have stepped in as defense counsel to Electrolux Home Products Inc. in a pending product liability lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 26 in New York Eastern District Court by Poulos Lopiccolo PC and Nagel Rice LLP on behalf of David Stern, alleges that the defendant's refrigerators’ drawers and shelving repeatedly break and fall apart within months after purchase. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Joan M. Azrack, is 2:24-cv-08204, Stern v. Electrolux Home Products, Inc.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250