Released by the Office of Commissioner Nikki Fried …
Tallahassee, Fla. – Today, the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on the landmark Hand v. DeSantis (formerly Hand v. Scott) voter disenfranchisement case, dismissing the case as moot. As one of the case’s defendants via serving on the state’s Clemency Board, Agriculture Commissioner Nicole “Nikki” Fried offered the following statement:
“Now that the court has ruled, it’s all the more important that Governor DeSantis and my Clemency Board colleagues heed my call for new clemency rules that restore the rights of Floridians. We’ve been in office for a year, and the rules could have been changed in the first week. Floridians who have paid their debt to society should not have to wait a day longer.”
Fried has been a strong proponent of reforming Florida’s clemency rules, called “crushingly restrictive” and growing harder. She has repeatedly called for the adoption of new clemency rules automatically restoring civil and voting rights, through letters to her Clemency Board colleagues and town hall meetings across the state, and for clearing the backlog of 10,000 clemency applicants for restoration of civil rights.