Jones v. Governor of Fla., No. 20-12003

975 F.3d 1016

Kelvin Leon JONES, Rosemary McCoy, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees,

v.GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA, Florida Secretary of State, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 20-12003

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

September 11, 2020

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 Amici 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 Swaine & 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

Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, WILSON, MARTIN, JORDAN, JILL PRYOR, NEWSOM, BRANCH, GRANT, LUCK, and LAGOA, Circuit Judges.*^*

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.

WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge:

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 to vote, felons must complete all the terms of their criminal sentences, including imprisonment, probation, and payment of any fines, fees, costs, and restitution. We must decide whether the financial terms of that condition violate the Constitution.

Several felons sued to challenge the requirement that they pay their fines, fees, costs, and restitution before regaining the right to vote. They complained that this requirement violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as applied to felons who cannot afford to pay the required amounts and that it imposes a tax on voting in violation of the Twenty-Fourth Amendment; that the laws governing felon reenfranchisement and voter fraud are void for vagueness; and that Florida has denied them procedural due process by adopting requirements that make it difficult for them to determine whether they are eligible to vote. The district court entered a permanent injunction that allows any felon who is unable to pay his fines or restitution or who has failed for any reason to pay his court fees and costs to register and vote. Because the felons failed to prove a violation of the Constitution, we reverse the judgment of the district court and vacate the challenged portions of its injunction.

I. BACKGROUND

Like many other States, Florida has long prohibited convicted felons from voting. The first Constitution of Florida gave the...