voter id

SCOTUS gives 5th Circuit Court of Appeals a deadline to decide Texas voter ID case

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The U.S. Supreme Court today declined to stop Texas from enforcing its strict photo ID requirement for voters in the state in an upcoming run-off election, but left open the possibility that it might change its mind later. Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog reports, Texas voter ID law left in effect — for now:

SupremeCourtThe order in essence gave a federal appeals court until July 20 to decide a case about that law’s validity under the federal Voting Rights Act.  After that date, the Court might step in, it said.

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The new order does these things: first, it denied the request to block enforcement immediately; second, it noted that it was aware of the pressure of time before the November election; third, it told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that if it has not acted in any way on the pending en banc review of the controversy “on or before July 20,” any “aggrieved party” disappointed by that inaction could ask the Justices for temporary legal protection; and, fourth, it also said that any “aggrieved party” could ask the Court to step in before the July date if there were a change in circumstances that would bear upon the enforcement issue.

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Voter ID trial in North Carolina

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WillimaBarberThe voter I.D. trial in North Carolina got underway on Monday. This is Part II to the Voting Rights Act trial from last July, a decision in which is still pending and is likely to decided together with the voter I.D. trial.

On Tuesday, the Rev. William Barber, president of the North Carolina NAACP and leader of the Moral Mondays Movement testified at trial. State NAACP president takes stand in photo ID trial:

The Rev. William Barber, president of the N.C. NAACP, took the stand Tuesday on the second day of the federal trial on North Carolina’s photo ID requirement.

Barber reiterated the organization’s opposition to the photo ID requirement and, under cross-examination, defended the state NAACP’s efforts to educate people, not only about the photo ID requirement but also about options they have under the law if they don’t have a photo ID.

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Voter ID trial opens in North Carolina

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WillimaBarberA two-week trial of North Carolina’s election law — one of the most sweeping changes in voting practices in the country since the U.S. Supreme Court dealt what critics consider a blow to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — came to a close at the end of July last year, and a decision on whether the law discriminates against racial minorities was left to U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder. Closing arguments in North Carolina Voting Rights Act trial.

Most court observers believed that Judge Schroeder would issue a ruling before the end of the year, which did not happen.

A separate voter ID trial is scheduled to begin today. NC voter ID trial set for Jan. 25:

On the eve of [the Voting Rights Act] trial, the legislature amended the voter ID portion of the overhaul to allow voters to cast provisional ballots without one of six specified photo identification cards. Because the change came so close to the start of the summer trial, the judge told the parties he would wait to hear arguments on that portion of the case.

It now appears that the Court may join these two cases into one opinion. North Carolina’s primary election is in March 15, so time is of the essence.NC voter ID trial opens in Winston-Salem:

The trial over North Carolina’s voter ID law is set to begin Monday in front of U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder, a federal judge who was appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush in 2008.

The legal battle is one of several being watched across the nation as courts address questions of the fairness and lasting impacts ID laws have on voting rights.

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Voter ID pushers are completely full of it

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

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The Arizona Eagletarian has already dealt with TownHall columnist Mona Charen’s pile of malarkey defending voter ID laws that appeared in Thursday’s Arizona Republican. I would add that the study that right wingers have been passing around like a doobie at a Willie Nelson concert that purportedly “proves” that a significant number of non-US citizens are registered to vote has been fact-checked and found to be lacking in conclusive evidence.

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