USCA11 Case: 21-10034 Document: 78-1 Date Filed: 04/26/2023 Page: 1 of 106 [PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 21-10034 ____________________ TREVA THOMPSON, individually and behalf of all others similarly situated, TIMOTHY LANIER, individually and behalf of all others similarly situated, GREATER BIRMINGHAM MINISTRIES, Plaintiffs-Appellants, DARIUS GAMBLE, PAMELA KING, individually and behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiff, versus STATE OF ALABAMA, et al., USCA11 Case: 21-10034 Document: 78-1 Date Filed: 04/26/2023 Page: 2 of 106 2 Opinion of the Court 21-10034 Defendants, SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE STATE OF ALABAMA, LEIGH GWATHNEY, in her official capacity as Chairman of the Board of Pardons and Paroles, JAMES SNIPES, III, in his official capacity as Chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Registrars and on behalf of a class of all voter registrars in the State of Alabama, Defendants-Appellees. ____________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama D.C. Docket No. 2:16-cv-00783-ECM-SMD ____________________ Before ROSENBAUM, TJOFLAT, Circuit Judges, and MOODY,* District Judge. TJOFLAT, Circuit Judge: * The Honorable James S. Moody, Jr., United States District Judge for the Mid- dle District of Florida, sitting by designation. USCA11 Case: 21-10034 Document: 78-1 Date Filed: 04/26/2023 Page: 3 of 106 21-10034 Opinion of the Court 3 Greater Birmingham Ministries (“GBM”), an Alabamian non-profit organization dedicated to aiding low-income individu- als, and several Alabamian felons 1 (collectively “Appellants”) ap- peal the District Court for the Middle District of Alabama’s sum- mary judgment denying their Equal Protection Clause, U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1, challenge to Amendment 579 of the Alabama state constitution, their Ex Post Facto Clause, U.S. Const. art. I, § 9, cl. 3, challenge to Amendment 579’s disenfranchisement provisions, and their National Voting Registration Act of 1993 (“NVRA”), 52 U.S.C. § 20501 et seq., challenge to the format of Alabama’s mail voting registration form. Because we hold that (1) Amendment 579 suc- cessfully dissipated any taint from the racially discriminatory mo- tives behind the 1901 Alabama constitution; (2) Amendment 579 does not impose punishment for purposes of the Ex Post Facto Clause; and (3) Alabama’s mail voting registration form complies with the NVRA, we affirm. I. As both the Supreme Court and this Court have previously explained, the 1901 Alabama state constitution was intentionally 1 This case was initially filed as a putative class action with ten named defend- ants. The District Court denied class certification, and on appeal only two individual plaintiffs remain: (1) Treva Thompson, a black woman convicted of theft of property in the first degree, and (2) Timothy Lanier, a black man con- victed of attempted murder and two counts of burglary in the first degree. Ala. Code § 17-3-30.1(c) specifies that each of these felonies involve moral tur- pitude. USCA11 Case: 21-10034 Document: 78-1 Date Filed: 04/26/2023 Page: 4 of 106 4 Opinion of the Court 21-10034 enacted to discriminate against and disenfranchise black Alabami- ans. See Underwood v. Hunter (Hunter I), 730 F.2d 614 …
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