The unsigned order likely means the law will go into effect for the November elections, although the court did not declare the law unconstitutional or to limit ongoing judicial challenges.
“This court order prevents thousands of eligible voters from participating in Florida’s primary election simply because they are poor,” Sotomayor wrote in dissent.
“The inaction of this court continues a trend of forgiving (depriving of rights),” he added.
Criminal convicted offenders in Florida regained their voting rights with a constitutional amendment passed in November 2018. Amendment 4, which allowed convicted criminals who fulfilled “all the terms of the sentence” the right to vote, was passed with almost the 65% of the votes, exceeding the 60% threshold required.
After Amendment 4 went into effect in January 2019, the Republican-led Florida legislature passed and Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill clarifying “all terms of the ruling” to include legal financial obligations such as fines, fees, and restitution.
The fees and fines that criminals must pay are extensive, but significantly high for an individual who is released from prison, especially if he is unemployed. They can range from a couple of hundred to tens of thousands of dollars, Lisa Foster, co-director of the Fines and Fees Justice Center, a group that aims to eliminate fees in the US justice system, told CNN AND In Florida, all court fees that are not paid after 90 days are forwarded to private debt collectors, who are allowed to add up to a 40% surcharge on unpaid court debt, according to the Brennan Center.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
CNN’s Paul Leblanc, Veronica Stracqualursi and Kelly Mena contributed to this report.
.
