Trump-Appointed Judges Refuse to Recuse Themselves in Case Over Florida’s ‘Poll Tax’ Voting Law – By Jerry Lambe (Law and Crime) / July 27 2020
Two federal judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on Monday said they would not be recusing themselves from a case over Florida’s Amendment 4, which denies individuals with prior felony convictions the right to vote if they cannot afford to pay certain fees and fines. The circuit judges – both of whom were appointed by President Donald Trump – had previously participated in litigation over the law during their time on Florida’s state supreme court.
“We’ve reviewed the Code of Conduct for United States Judges and 28 U.S.C. section 455. We have also consulted with experienced colleagues. We have carefully considered whether disqualification is legally required, and because we did not serve as lawyers or trial or appellate judges in this case, we’ve concluded that it is not,” U.S. Circuit Judges Barbara Lagoa and Robert Luck wrote in a 25-page decision.
Earlier this month, a full panel of federal judges on the Eleventh Circuit, which sits in Atlanta, agreed to rehear an appeal in the case that could potentially restore the voting rights of up to 1.4 million former felons in the state. The rare en banc hearing was granted after the plaintiffs argued that a “pay-to-vote” system was unconstitutional and represented the equivalent of a “modern day poll tax.”
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