DeSantis Spent $250K To Defend Poll Tax On Felons

The Tampa Bay Times reports:

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office paid prominent Washington law firm Cooper & Kirk $250,000 to defend the state’s law banning people convicted of felonies from voting before they’ve paid off all court fees, fines and restitution to victims.

According to the contract released by the governor’s office Monday, DeSantis general counsel Joe Jacquot inked the deal with the firm in November. The $250,000 flat fee covers the firm’s work for a year. Last week, the firm’s co-founder, Charles Cooper, represented Florida before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

Cooper, who represented former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions in the investigations into Russian election interference, was unusually candid about Florida’s shortcomings during the hearing, telling the judges that “Florida didn’t get its act together as quickly as one would hope” while processing registration forms from applicants with felony convictions.

As you may recall, Cooper defended Proposition 8 before the US Supreme Court on behalf of California’s viciously anti-gay Protect Marriage, but made a U-turn in 2014, declaring that his own daughter’s marriage to a woman had changed his mind on the issue.

Ron DeSantis paid DC law firm $250,000 to defend his attempts to prevent felons who have served their time from votinghttps://t.co/nnbmSf42wo

— Daniel Uhlfelder (@DWUhlfelderLaw) August 24, 2020