Ronald Brownstein of CNN wrote an interesting article analyzing what would happen if Donald Trump is convicted of just one felony before the 2024 Presidential election. Because current Florida law would not only restrict the former President from voting. He would also be disqualified from holding any office. Brownstein writes on CNN that if “Trump is found guilty of a felony before the election, “There is at least considerable merit and weight to the argument that not only could he not vote, but arguably he couldn’t be on the ballot to enable anyone else to be able to vote for him, meaning he would not be in play for Florida’s electoral votes,” said Mark Schlakman, a law professor at Florida State University who served as a counsel on clemency issues to former Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles.
Florida, historically, has been among the states that made it most difficult for felons to recover their rights. Before state voters overwhelmingly approved the 2018 ballot initiative known as Amendment 4, Florida was one of the very few states that imposed a lifetime ban on voting for former felons. The state also barred them from serving on juries or holding public office.
Amendment 4 automatically restored voting rights to former felons, except those convicted of murder or sexual offenses, who have completed their sentences. (The amendment did not address the right to serve on a jury or hold public office.) In 2019, though, the GOP-controlled Florida state legislature, with Ron DeSantis’ support, passed legislation additionally requiring that former felons pay all outstanding fees and fines before recovering their voting rights.
Even after Amendment 4, felons are required to have completed their sentence before recovering their voting rights in Florida, as in virtually all other states. If Trump is convicted of a felony before the election and is appealing that conviction, he would not have satisfied that condition. Desmond Meade is executive director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition. Meade and others point out. “Even though you may be appealing, at the point of the conviction, you are a convicted felon,” Meade said. “That means you’ve lost all your civil rights” under Florida law.
In Florida, those rescinded rights also include the right to hold public office. Whether that prohibition applies only to state and local positions in Florida or also covers federal offices is a question the courts might eventually need to resolve. Although the legal question is murkier than on the issue of voting eligibility. Mark Schlakman, a law professor at Florida State University who served as a counsel on clemency issues to former Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles. Believes there is a strong case that Florida’s prohibition on convicted felons holding public office does in fact extend to federal offices. And if that’s the case, he says, it logically would prohibit Trump from appearing on the state’s ballot next year if he both wins the GOP nomination and is convicted of a felony.
In Florida law, there’s a big escape hatch that could allow Trump, as the GOP nominee, to surmount these restrictions and both vote and appear on the ballot: a decision by DeSantis and the other members of the state clemency board. But all experts agree the clemency board has virtually unlimited authority to supersede any of these rules so long as both the governor and two of its other three members agree to do so. Besides DeSantis, the board’s other three members are also all Republicans. “The governor and cabinet have essentially unbridled discretion to restore rights,” said Schlakman.
Asked how unusual it would be for a state to restore voting rights for a felon while he or she is appealing their conviction, the Vera Institute’s Insha Rahman, a former public defender, said: “I think so rare that it has probably never happened before and that this highly unusual circumstance is the first time this has been discussed, debated or considered.””
So it appears that the ball will ultimately lie in Ron DeSantis’ court. The question for “Meatball Ron” is, will he go against everything he has done up to this point on restricting convicted felons, for Donald Trump? The man who has turned Desantis’ campaign into a cringe comedy the likes of “Curb your Enthusiasm”. Trump’s daily verbal lashings have reduced Desantis to a bumbling shell of the wannabe tough guy who took on Goofy and friends at Disney. Videos online show, DeSantis on the campaign trail committing one social gaffe after another. He is so rattled he makes “Curb’s” Larry David look like James Dean in comparison. Yet in all our hearts we know that given the chance to do the right thing for the people of Florida and the country as a whole. DeSantis will always take the road most traveled by jackasses. He will probably bend to Trump’s will and say thank you, sir, may I have another pudding. Allowing Trump to be the only felon in the history of Florida to not only vote for himself but possibly take hold of the highest elected office that exists. A tale that only Florida could tell. One that is actually based on a true story.
For the full CNN article click the link below
https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/29/politics/donald-trump-florida-law-felons-2024-fault-lines/index.html
Check out this article on how Trump should be disqualified nationwide
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