Hopkins v. Watson

Issues: (1) Whether Section 241 of the Mississippi Constitution’s lifetime disenfranchisement of individuals who have completed their sentences for past felony convictions violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment; and (2) whether Section 2 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution’s “affirmative sanction” for and safe harbor from strict scrutiny review applies only to laws that temporarily abridge the right to vote based on “participation in rebellion, or other crime,” and not to laws like Section 241 that permanently deny the right to vote to individuals who have completed their sentences for past felony convictions.