JONES v. GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA

No. 20-12003.

975 F.3d 1016 (2020)

Kelvin Leon JONES, Rosemary McCoy, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA, Florida Secretary of State, Defendants-Appellants.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

September 11, 2020.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Michael A. Steinberg , Michael A. Steinberg & Associates, Tampa, FL, for Plaintiffs-Appellees Kelvin Leon Jones, Luis a Mendez.

Nancy Gbana Abudu , Caren E. Short , Southern Poverty Law Center, Decatur, GA, for Plaintiffs-Appellees-Cross Appellants Rosemary McCoy, Sheila Singleton.

Danielle Marie Lang , Blair S. Bowie , Molly Danahy , Jonathan Diaz , Mark Gaber , Paul March Smith , Campaign Legal Center, Washington, DC, Chad Wilson Dunn , Brazil & Dunn — Miami Fl, Miami, FL, for Plaintiffs-Appellees Bonnie Raysor, Diane Sherrill.

Julie Ebenstein , Rodkangyil Orion Danjuma , Dale E. Ho , Jonathan Topaz , American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, New York, NY, Leah Aden , John Spencer Cusick , Sherrilyn Ann Ifill , Janai S. Nelson , Samuel Spital, NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc., New York, NY, David Giller , Pietro Signoracci , Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, LLP, New York, NY, Jennifer A. Holmes , Attorney, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc, Washington, DC, Anton Marino , Daniel Boaz Tilley , ACLU Foundation of Florida, Inc., Miami, FL, Sean Morales-Doyle , Myrna Perez , Eliza Sweren-Becker , Wendy Robin Weiser , Brennan Center for Justice, New York, NY, for Plaintiffs Appellees Jeff Gruver, Emory Marquis Mitchell, Betty Riddle, Kristopher Wrench, Keith Ivey, Karen Leicht, Raquel Wright, Steven Phalen, Clifford Tyson, Jermaine Miller, Florida State Conference of NAACP Branches, Orange County' Branch of the NAACP, League of Women Voters of Florida.

Danielle Marie Lang , Molly Danahy , Jonathan Diaz , Mark Gaber , Paul March Smith , Campaign Legal Center, Washington, DC, Chad Wilson Dunn , Brazil & Dunn — Miami Fl, Miami, FL, for Plaintiff Appellee Lee Hoffman.

Charles J. Cooper , Shelby Lynn Baird , Steven Lindsay , Peter A. Patterson , Cooper & Kirk, PLLC, Washington, DC, Joseph Jacquot , Joshua Pratt , Nicholas Primrose , Executive Office of the Governor, Tallahassee, FL, Mohammad O. Jazil , Hopping Green & Sams, PA, Tallahassee, FL, Ashley Moody , Office of the Attorney General, Tallahassee, FL, for Defendant Appellant-Cross Appellee Governor of Florida.

Charles J. Cooper , Shelby Lynn Baird , Steven Lindsay , Peter A. Patterson , Cooper & Kirk, PLLC, Washington, DC, Ashley E. Davis , Bradley Robert McVay , Florida Department of State, Tallahassee, FL, Mohammad O. Jazil , Gary V. Perko , Attorney, Tara R. Price , Edward Mark Wenger , Holland & Knight, LLP, Tallahassee, FL, Ashley E. Davis , Bradley Robert McVay , Florida Department of State, Tallahassee, FL, George N. Meros, Jr. , Shutts & Bowen, LLP, Tallahassee, FL, for Defendant Appellant-Cross Appellee Florida Secretary of State.

Edmund Gerard LaCour, Jr. , Misty Shawn Fairbanks Messick , Alabama Attorney General's Office, Montgomery, AL, for Amicus Curiae State of Alabama.

Olivia Waters Kelman , K & L Gates, LLP, Miami, FL, Victoria J. Oguntoye , K & L Gates, LLP, Dallas, TX, for Amicus Curiae Former Officials of the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice.

Sarah A. Hunger , Illinois Attorney General's Office, Chicago, IL, for Amici Curiae District of Columbia, State of Illinois, State of California, State of Colorado, State of Connecticut, State of Delaware, State of Hawaii, State of Maryland, State of Massachusetts, State of Michigan, State of Minnesota, State of Nevada, State of New Jersey, State of New Mexico, State of New York, State of Oregon, State of Pennsylvania, State of Vermont, State of Virginia, State of Washington.

Kaylan Lytle Phillips , Public Interest Legal Foundation, Indianapolis, IN, for Amicus Curiae Public Interest Legal Foundation.

William S. Consovoy , Consovoy McCarthy, PLLC, Arlington, VA, for Amicus Curiae Honest Elections Project.

Jennifer G. Altman , Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP, Miami, FL, for Amici Curiae David Abraham, Andrea Armstron, Hadar Aviram, Anthony Alfieri, David Ball, Valena Beety, Caroline Bettinger-Lopez, Mark Brown, Rebecca Brown, John Burkoff, Sergio Campos, Bennett Capers, Gilbert Paul Carrasco, Kami Chavis, Alan Chen, Wilfred U. Codrington, David Cohen, Donna Kay Coker, Frank Rudy Cooper, John Copacino, Charlton Copeland, Caroline M Corbin, Michael Louis Corrado, Benjamin Plener Cover, Andre Douglas Pond Cummings, Perry Dane, Joshua Paul Davis, Peggy Cooper Davis, Frank Deale, Nora V. Demleitner, Peter Edelman, Jules M Epstein, Malcom M Feeley, Mark Fenster, James Fox, Chin Gabriel, Nicole Godfrey, Cynthia Godsoe, Phyllis Goldfarb, Stephen Gottlieb, Mark Graber, Catherine M. Grosso, Patrick Gudridge, Bernard E. Hartcourt, Karen McDonald Henning, Susan Herman, Frances H. Hill, Janet C. Hoeffel, William Hollingsworth, Tonjia Jacobi, Osamudia James, Eric Janus, Danielle C. Jeffreris, Sheri Lynn Johnson, Lewis Katz, Christine Hunter Kellett, Shara Kobetz-Pelz, Harold Krent, Tamara Lave, Charles R Lawrence, Arthur S. Leonard, Martin Levin, Raleigh Levine, Peter Linzer, Jonathan Lipson, Cortney E Lollalr, Ann Louisin, Dennis Lynch, Joe Margulies, Kevin McMunigal, M. Isabel Medina, Deborah Merritt, Bernadette Meyler, Michael Millemann, Martha Minow, Joelle Anne Morena, Kenneth B Nunn, Jessica Owley, Brian Owsley, Kunal Parker, Ellen S Podgor, Albert T. Quick, Intisar Rabb, Carlos E Ramos-Gonzalez, Teresa Jean Reid, L. Song Richardson, Ira P. Robbins, Jon Romberg, Mark R. Schlakman, Stephen J. Schnably, Judith A.M. Scully, Michael Seng, Allen Shoenberger, Jonathan Simon, Scott Skinner-Thompson, Abbe Smith, Neil Sobol, David A. Soneinshein, Irwin P. Stotzky, J. Kelly Strader, John Teeter, Joseph Tomain, Craig Joseph Trocino, Kimberly Wehle, Marcia Narine Weldon, Steven L. Winter, Sarah H. Wolking, Steve Zeidman, Adnan A. Zulfiqar.

Faith E. Gay , Caitlin Joan Halligan , Joshua S. Margolin , Mary Joy Odom , Selendy & Gay, PLLC, New York, NY, for Amid Curiae Allison Anoll, Laurel Eckhouse, Mackenzie Israel-Trummel, Marc Meredith.

Sarah Grady , Loevy & Loevy, Chicago, IL, for Amici Curiae, Jocelyn Benson, Edgardo Cortes, Dustin Czarny, Pat Gill, Joseph Glori, Kevin Kennedy, Roxanna Mortiz, Maggie Oliver, Alex Padilla, Ion Sancho, Lowell Tesch, Grant Veeder, Travis Weipert.

Scott A. Chesin , Mayer Brown, LLP, New York, NY, for Amicus Curiae Collateral Consequences Resource Center.

Robert D. Fram , Diane Ramirez , Covington & Burling, LLP, San Francisco, CA, for Amicus Curiae Common Cause.

David Gringer , Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr, LLP, Washington, DC for Amici Curiae Joshua A. Douglas, Atiba Ellis, Luis Fuentes-Rohwer, Pamela S. Karlan, Bertrall Ross, David Schultz, Franita Tolson.

Naila S. Awan , Demos, New York, NY, Chiraag Bains , Demos, Washington, DC for Amicus Curiae Florida Rights Restoration Coalition.

Jason R. LaFond , Attorney General's Office, Austin, TX, Christopher Michael Carr , Attorney General's Office, Atlanta, GA, for Amicus Curiae State of Georgia.

Jason R. LaFond , Attorney General's Office, Austin, TX, for Amici Curiae State of Kentucky, State of Mississippi, State of Nebraska, the State of Arkansas, the State of Louisiana.

Jason R. LaFond , Attorney General's Office, Austin, TX, Alan Wilson , Office of the Attorney General, Columbia, SC, for Amicus Curiae State of South Carolina.

Ken Paxton , Office of the Attorney General of Texas, Austin, TX, for Amicus Curiae State of Texas.

David W. Rivkin , Harold Williford , Debevoise & Plimpton, LLP, New York, NY, for Amicus Curiae Tax and Constitutional Law Professors.

Louis Peter Petrich , Ballard Spahr, LLP, Los Angeles, CA, for Amicus Curiae The American Probation and Parole Association.

Richard Wayland Clary , Cravath Sikaine & Moore, LLP, New York, NY, for Amicus Curiae The Cato Institute; the Fines and Fees Justice Center, the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the R Street Institute.

WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, delivered the opinion of the Court, in which NEWSOM, BRANCH, GRANT, LUCK, and LAGOA, Circuit Judges, joined, except with respect to Part III-B-2, in which only NEWSOM and LAGOA, Circuit Judges, joined.


Florida has long followed the common practice of excluding those who commit serious crimes from voting. But in 2018, the people of Florida approved a historic amendment to their state constitution to restore the voting rights of thousands of convicted felons. They imposed only one condition: before regaining the right...

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