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Jones v. DeSantis, --- F.Supp.3d ---- (2020) West Codenotes 2020 WL 2618062 Only the Westlaw citation is currently available. Unconstitutional as Applied United States District Court, N.D. Florida, Fla. Const. art. 6, § 4(a); Fla. Stat. Ann. § 98.0751(2)(a) Tallahassee Division. Preempted Kelvin Leon JONES et al., Plaintiffs, Fla. Stat. Ann. § 97.052(2)(t) v. Attorneys and Law Firms Ron DESANTIS et al., Defendants. Michael A. Steinberg, Tampa, FL, for Plaintiffs Kelvin Leon CASE NO. 4:19cv300-RH/MJF Jones, Luis A. Mendez. | Signed 05/24/2020 Blair S. Bowie, Danielle Marie Lang, Mark P. Gaber, Jonathan Michael Diaz, Molly Elizabeth Danahy, Campaign Synopsis Legal Center, Washington, DC, Chad W. Dunn, Brazil & Background: Prospective voters who had completed their Dunn, Miami, FL, for Plaintiffs Bonnie Raysor, Diane terms of imprisonment and supervision for felony offenses, Sherrill. and organizations, brought actions for declaratory and injunctive relief against state and local officials, challenging Jonathan Topaz, Julie A. Ebenstein, Rodkangyil Orion on federal constitutional and statutory grounds state laws Danjuma, American Civil Liberties Union, David Morris conditioning restoration of felons' voting rights on their Giller, Pietro John Signoracci, Paul Weiss Rifkind etc., Eliza payment of all legal financial obligations imposed as part of Sweren-Becker, Sean Morales-Doyle, Brennan Center for their sentences. Justice, Myrna Perez, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, John Spencer Cusick, Leah Camille Aden, NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund Inc., New York, Holdings: After trial, the District Court, Robert Hinkle, J., NY, Anton Marino, Daniel Boaz Tilley, ACLU Foundation held that: of Florida Inc., Miami, FL, Jennifer A. Holmes, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Washington, DC, challenged laws, as applied to felons who were genuinely Jimmy Midyette, Jr., Jacksonville, FL, Wendy Robin Weiser, unable to pay fees, fines, costs, and restitution, violated equal Brennan Center for Justice, New York City, NY, for Plaintiff protection; Jeff Gruver. Jonathan Topaz, Julie A. Ebenstein, Rodkangyil Orion conditioning voting on payment of fees and costs imposed a Danjuma, American Civil Liberties Union, David Morris prohibited “tax” under Twenty-Fourth Amendment; Giller, Pietro John Signoracci, Paul Weiss Rifkind etc., Eliza Sweren-Becker, Sean Morales-Doyle, Brennan Center for improper race motivation was not shown; Justice, Myrna Perez, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, John Spencer Cusick, Leah Camille Aden, gender discrimination motive was not shown; NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund Inc., New York, NY, Anton Marino, Daniel Boaz Tilley, ACLU Foundation of State's voter registration form, requiring a registrant who was Florida Inc., Miami, FL, Jennifer A. Holmes, NAACP Legal eligible to vote to disclose a nondisqualifying felony, violated Defense and Educational Fund, Washington, DC, Wendy National Voter Registration Act (NVRA); and Robin Weiser, Brennan Center for Justice, New York City, NY, for Plaintiffs Emory Marquis Mitchell, Betty Riddle, voter-initiated state constitutional amendment would not be Keith Ivey, Karen Leicht, Raquel Wright, Steven Phalen, struck down in its entirety. Clifford Tyson, Jermaine Miller, Florida State Conference of the Naacp, Orange County Branch of the NAACP, League of Declaratory and injunctive relief granted. Women Voters of Florida. App-7 © 2020 Thomson Reuters. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. 1 Jones v. DeSantis, --- F.Supp.3d ---- (2020) Jonathan Topaz, Julie A. Ebenstein, Rodkangyil Orion Craig Dennis Feiser, Office of General Counsel, Jacksonville, Danjuma, American Civil Liberties Union, David Morris FL, for Defendant Mike Hogan. Giller, Pietro John Signoracci, Paul Weiss Rifkind etc., Eliza Sweren-Becker, Sean Morales-Doyle, Brennan Center for Dylan T. Reingold, Indian River County, Vero Beach, FL, for Justice, Myrna Perez, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Defendant Leslie Rossway Swan. School of Law, John Spencer Cusick, Leah Camille Aden, Mark Herron, Summer Denay Brown, Messer Caparello & NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund Inc., New York, Self PA, Tallahassee, FL, for Defendant Mark Earley. NY, Anton Marino, Daniel Boaz Tilley, ACLU Foundation of Florida Inc., Miami, FL, Jennifer A. Holmes, NAACP Legal Morgan Ray Bentley, Bentley & Bruning PA, Asarasota, FL, Defense and Educational Fund, Washington, DC, Wendy for Defendants Michael Bennett, Ron Turner. Robin Weiser, Brennan Center for Justice, New York City, NY, for Plaintiff Kristopher Wrench. Michael Beny Valdes, Oren Rosenthal, Miami-Dade County Attorneys Office, Miami, FL, for Defendant Christina White. Caren E. Short, Nancy Gbana Abudu, Southern Poverty Law Center, Decatur, GA, for Plaintiffs Rosemary McCoy, Sheila Nicholas Ari Shannin, Shannin Law Firm PA, Orlando, FL, Singleton. for Defendant Bill Cowles. Danielle Marie Lang, Mark P. Gaber, Campaign Legal Center, Washington, DC, Chad W. Dunn, Brazil & Dunn, Miami, FL, OPINION ON THE MERITS for Plaintiff Lee Hoffman. Robert L. Hinkle, United States District Judge Eliza Sweren-Becker, Brennan Center for Justice, Leah Camille Aden, NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund *1 The State of Florida has adopted a system under which Inc., New York, NY, Anton Marino, Daniel Boaz Tilley, nearly a million otherwise-eligible citizens will be allowed to ACLU Foundation of Florida Inc., Miami, FL, for Plaintiffs vote only if they pay an amount of money. Most of the citizens Curtis D. Braynt, Latoya A. Moreland. lack the financial resources to make the required payment. Many do not know, and some will not be able to find out, Joseph W. Jacquot, Nicholas Allen Primrose, Joshua E. Pratt, how much they must pay. For most, the required payment will Executive Office of the Governor Office of the General consist only of charges the State imposed to fund government Counsel, Tallahassee, FL, Colleen M. Ernst, Office of General operations—taxes in substance though not in name. Counsel, for Defendant Ron Desantis. Stephen Mark Todd, Office of the County Attorney, Tampa, The State is on pace to complete its initial screening of the FL, for Defendant Craig Latimer. citizens by 2026, or perhaps later, and only then will have an initial opinion about which citizens must pay, and how Ashley E. Davis, Bradley Robert McVay, Florida Department much they must pay, to be allowed to vote. In the meantime, of State Office of General Counsel, Edward M. Wenger, year after year, federal and state elections will pass. The Gary Vergil Perko, Mohammad Omar Jazil, Hopping Green uncertainty will cause some citizens who are eligible to vote, & Sams PA, George N. Meros, Jr., Tara R. Price, Holland & even on the State's own view of the law, not to vote, lest they Knight LLP, Tallahassee, FL, for Defendant Laurel M. Lee. risk criminal prosecution. Corbin Frederick Hanson, Geena Marcela Cesar, Robert This pay-to-vote system would be universally decried as Charles Swain, Alachua County Attorneys Office, unconstitutional but for one thing: each citizen at issue was Gainesville, FL, for Defendant Kim A. Barton. convicted, at some point in the past, of a felony offense. A state may disenfranchise felons and impose conditions Adam M. Katzman, Nathaniel Adam Klitsberg, Rene Devlin on their reenfranchisement. But the conditions must pass Harrod, Broward County Attorneys Office, Fort Lauderdale, constitutional scrutiny. Whatever might be said of a rationally FL, George N. Meros, Jr., Tara R. Price, Holland & Knight constructed system, this one falls short in substantial respects. LLP, Tallahassee, FL, for Defendant Peter Antonacci. App-8 © 2020 Thomson Reuters. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. 2 Jones v. DeSantis, --- F.Supp.3d ---- (2020) The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Finally, these plaintiffs assert, but not on behalf of a class, has already ruled, in affirming a preliminary injunction in this that the pay-to-vote system is void for vagueness, denies very case, that the State cannot condition voting on payment procedural due process, and violates the National Voter of an amount a person is genuinely unable to pay. See Jones Registration Act, 52 U.S.C. § 20501 et seq. v. Governor of Fla., 950 F.3d 795 (11th Cir. 2020). Now, after a full trial on the merits, the plaintiffs' evidence has grown In No. 4:19cv302, the plaintiffs are 12 individuals and stronger. This order holds that the State can condition voting 3 organizations. The individuals are Jeff Gruver, Emory on payment of fines and restitution that a person is able to Marquis Mitchell, Betty Riddle, Karen Leicht, Keith Ivey, pay but cannot condition voting on payment of amounts a Kristopher Wrench, Raquel L. Wright, Steven Phalen, person is unable to pay or on payment of taxes, even those Jermaine Miller, Clifford Tyson, Latoya A. Moreland, and labeled fees or costs. This order puts in place administrative Curtis D. Bryant. The organizations are the League of procedures that comport with the Constitution and are less Women Voters of Florida, the Florida State Conference of the burdensome, on both the State and the citizens, than those the NAACP, and the Orange County Branch of the NAACP. The State is currently using to administer the unconstitutional pay- defendants are the Secretary of State and the Supervisors of to-vote system. Elections of Alachua, Broward, Duval, Hillsborough, Indian River, Leon, Manantee, Miami-Dade, Orange, and Sarasota Counties. I. The Consolidated Cases These