Two federal appeals court judges rebuffed calls by 10 Democratic U.S. senators that they recuse themselves from a closely watched case involving felon voting rights in Florida.
The case revolves around the 2019 Florida Senate Bill 7066, which requires felons who have served their sentences to pay all their legal financial obligations – fines, court fees and restitution – before they can vote. Critics say this amounts to an illegal poll tax, but Gov. Ron DeSantis has stood behind SB 7066 in recent legal actions.
In a written opinion this week, 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Judges Barbara Lagoa and Robert Luck refused to step aside from hearing the case. The appellees in the case contend that the justices should have disqualified themselves due to their involvement in oral arguments about the implementation of felon voting rights while members of the Florida Supreme Court.
“These two cases involve different kinds of proceedings (advisory opinion vs. Article III case-and-controversy), in different courts (state supreme court vs. federal court), with different issues (interpreting state constitution vs. federal constitutional questions) and different players (‘interested persons’ vs. parties),” the two judges said in rejecting the motion for disqualification.
The Washington, D.C.-based Campaign Legal Center, whose attorney argued for the two justices to disqualify themselves, referred the Florida Record to the appellees’ previous motion when asked for a comment on the judges’ decision.
“Judges Luck and Lagoa are disqualified from participating in this case by their own recusal pledges, the Code of Conduct (for U.S. Judges) and federal law,” the filing states.
Lagoa pledged to recuse herself from cases involving the Florida Supreme Court in a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire prior to being confirmed for the appeals post, and Luck promised to recuse himself from cases in which he played any role, according to the filing.
“Your participation in the decision to grant en banc review in (Jones v. DeSantis), and any further participation in this case, appears to contradict the commitments you made to the (Judiciary) Committee that you would recuse yourself from any case where you have ‘ever played a role,’” the letter to Luck signed by 10 senators, including Dianne Feinstein of California and Patrick Leahy of Vermont, states.
But in their response to the motion to disqualify the two judges, attorneys for DeSantis equated the senators’ letters to threats that could undermine judicial independence.
“Over the last 36 hours, two members of this court have become the targets of extraordinary attacks by the Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee intended to intimidate them into recusing themselves from this case,” the motion said. “... Verbal assaults on the judiciary have become regrettably common in American politics, and they pose a growing threat to the rule of law.”
The Governor’s Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Florida voting rights case has generated more partisan interest since its outcome could ultimately have a bearing on votes cast in the presidential election in November.