Voting Rights Act of 1965

The Washington Post reports, Federal judge blocks N. Dakota’s voter-ID law, calling it unfair to Native Americans:

A federal judge on Monday called North Dakota’s strict voter-ID law unfair to Native Americans and blocked its use in the coming election, continuing a series of recent victories against restrictions imposed by state legislatures.

Here is the Order (.pdf).

In recent days, judges have blocked or loosened voting restrictions in Texas, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Kansas. The fights have pitted Democrats and civil rights groups who say restrictive ID laws discriminate against minorities against Republican legislators, who say they enacted the laws to combat voter fraud and protect the public’s confidence in elections.

U.S. District Judge Daniel L. Hovland said North Dakota for years had provided a safety net for those unable to provide the specific kinds of ID required, and that eliminating it in 2013 would mean eligible voters are disenfranchised.

Before 2013, the state allowed many forms of identification for use at the polls, and those without could sign affidavits to their identity. But the 2013 law allowed only four forms of ID: a North Dakota driver’s license; a North Dakota non-driver’s ID card; a tribal government-issued ID card; or an alternative form of ID prescribed by the secretary of state.

A provision added last year prohibited the secretary of state from allowing college IDs or military IDs to be used.

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The GOP war on voting rights suffered another major defeat today.

A partially divided three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down North Carolina’s “most restrictive voter law in the nation.”  Appeals court strikes down North Carolina’s voter-ID law:

A federal appeals court on Friday struck down North Carolina’s requirement that voters show identification before casting ballots and reinstated an additional week of early voting, finding that legislators had acted with “discriminatory intent” in imposing strict election rules.

[You can read the 83 page decision here. (.pdf)]

The decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit was an overwhelming victory for the Justice Department and civil rights groups that argued the measures were designed to dampen the growing political clout of African American voters, who participated in record numbers in elections in 2008 and 2012.

“We can only conclude that the North Carolina General Assembly enacted the challenged provisions of the law with discriminatory intent,” Judge Diana Gribbon Motz wrote for the panel.

North Carolina’s Republican legislative leaders issued a fiery joint statement in response and said they will appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

The decision by the Richmond-based court on Friday reverses a lower-court ruling that upheld the voting measures passed in 2013.

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The Supreme Court set a soft July 20 deadline for a decision in the Texas voter ID case before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Ater that the Court has invited plaintiffs to seek immediate relief for this election before the Supreme Court.

Today the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals met the Supreme Court’s deadline. In a 203 page opinion, the 5th Circuit, sitting en banc, issued an opinion holding that Texas’s voter identification law, one of the strictest in the country, violates section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Breaking and Analysis: Divided 5th Circuit Holds Texas Voter ID Law Violates Voting Rights Act:

The bottom line is that the majority of the 5th Circuit has done what the panel opinion had originally held: there is a remand on the question whether Texas acted with a discriminatory purpose, but there is enough evidence of a discriminatory effect so as to render the Texas ID law a Voting Rights Act violation.

Ian Millhiser at Think Progress reports, BREAKING: Texas’ Voter ID Law Struck Down By An Extraordinarily Conservative Appeals Court:

In a stunning, unexpected decision from one of the most conservative federal appeals courts in the country, the full United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit handed down a decision on Wednesday holding that a Texas voter suppression law violates the Voting Rights Act. The court heard this case, en banc, a rarely invoked process where a full appeals court (as opposed to a panel of three judges) meets to decide a case. The vote was 9-6, although the majority split on whether to uphold a lower court’s finding that Texas acted with discriminatory intent in enacting this law.

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Back in April I posted that a North Carolina Judge upholds that states’ ‘most restrictive voting law in the nation’.

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals expediting the appeal of this case, and oral argument was heard today by a three judge panel. Federal appeals court skeptical of North Carolina voting restrictions:

Wide-ranging restrictions on voting in North Carolina came under attack as racially discriminatory in a federal appeals court Tuesday, with one judge saying the legislature’s rush to impose limits after getting a green light from the Supreme Court “looks pretty bad to me.”

The law is the most expansive of any passed after the high court’s 5-4 ruling in 2013 freed mostly Southern states from needing federal approval before changing their election procedures.

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The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in a 120-page opinion has held that the deep cuts to Ohio’s early voting days signed into law by Gov. John Kasich (R) are “unconstitutional and…accordingly unenforceable.” Think Progress reports, BREAKING: Major Court Ruling Restores Early Voting Days In Ohio:

Judge Michael Watson sided with the Ohio Democratic Party, which had sued the state for sharply curtailing the number of early voting days. Since President Obama won reelection in 2012, Ohio’s Republican lawmakers and Secretary of State have voted to eliminate the days and times of early voting that were most convenient for those working full time: the weekend before election day, weekday evenings, and what’s known as “Golden Week,” the time about a month before election day when the registration period and the early voting period overlap.

These cuts, the judge wrote, “results in less opportunity for African Americans to participate in the political process than other voters.”

The court ordered the Republican governor and Secretary of State to once again allow voters to begin casting ballots 35 days before November’s presidential election. Republicans may appeal Tuesday’s ruling to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

But of course … the Columbus Dispatch reports “A DeWine spokesman said the decision — which sided with the state on many issues — will be appealed.”

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