In an opinion released today, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that persons who lose the right to vote in Tennessee because of a criminal conviction in another state must comply with requirements set forth in two different Tennessee statutes, both of which address voting rights, in order to regain their right to vote.
Plaintiff Ernest Falls was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Virginia in 1986. Mr. Falls subsequently became a resident of Tennessee in 2018. The Virginia conviction rendered Mr. Falls ineligible to vote at the time he moved to Tennessee under a Tennessee statute that bars persons who are convicted of certain crimes in other states from voting. According to that statute, the bar on voting for a person convicted of an out-of-state “infamous crime,” or any crime that is a felony under the laws of Tennessee, is absolute unless that person complies with one of three additional requirements listed in the statute.
The Governor of Virginia granted Mr. Falls clemency in 2020. Based on this grant of clemency from Virginia, Mr. Falls attempted to register to vote in Grainger County, Tennessee. The Grainger County Election Commission denied his attempt to register to vote. Mr. Falls then filed a lawsuit in Davidson County Chancery Court against three public officials after his attempt to register was denied. Mr. Falls argued that, because he had been granted individualized clemency in Virginia by the Virginia Governor in February 2020, his right to vote must be restored. The Election Commission cited “Incomplete/Insufficient Documents” as the reason it had denied Mr. Falls’ voter registration request.
The defendant public officials argued that Mr. Falls needed to comply with an additional statute requiring a person to prove that he does not owe any outstanding court costs, restitution, and child support obligations in order to regain the right to vote. The trial court denied Mr. Falls’ motion for a temporary injunction to vote in the August 6, 2020 election and also denied Mr. Falls’ subsequent motion for summary judgment. Instead, the trial court granted summary judgment to the defendant public officials. The Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of the trial court. Mr. Falls then appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court.
Seeking to clarify and reconcile the statutes at issue, the Supreme Court granted Mr. Falls’ application for permission to appeal. Ultimately, the Court held that Mr. Falls was required to comply with the provisions of both statutes. The Court disagreed with Mr. Falls’ argument that his right to vote should have been restored immediately when he received his grant of clemency in Virginia. Instead, the Court held that the grant of clemency created the possibility that Mr. Falls could regain the right to vote but that he would still be subjected to other requirements imposed by the legislature. The Court reasoned that only this interpretation would allow both statutes to achieve their intended purposes.
Justice Sharon G. Lee dissented. Mr. Falls was convicted of a crime in Virginia nearly forty years ago. He served his sentence, and the Governor of Virginia granted him clemency and restored his right to vote. In her view, Mr. Falls was not prohibited from later voting in Tennessee. He had no reason to seek re-restoration of his constitutionally guaranteed right to vote under a statute that effectively made Tennessee a debt collector for court costs, restitution, and child support for the State of Virginia.
Justice Sarah K. Campbell did not participate in the case.
To read the majority opinion in Falls v. Goins, authored by Justice Jeff Bivins, and the dissenting opinion, authored by Justice Sharon G. Lee, visit the opinions section of TNCourts.gov.