The emergency appeal by North Carolina’s governor to the US Supreme Court to reinstate the restrictive voting rights ID law that was overturned by the Appeals Court of the Fourth Circuit was rebuffed today when the court voted 4-4 against doing so.
The decision — a victory for voting rights groups and President Barack Obama’s Justice Department — means voters won’t have to show one of several qualifying photo IDs when casting ballots in the presidential battleground state. Early voting also reverts to 17 days, to begin Oct. 20.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down several parts of the law last month, saying they were approved by Republican legislators with intentional bias against black voters in mind.
Once again, the death of justice Scalia and the resulting vacancy illustrates how important Appeals Court decisions are because in the event of a tie vote in the Supreme Court, the lower court verdict stands.
Man, those conservative justices aren’t even trying anymore, are they? You’d think at least one of them would have broken from the Republican ranks and agreed that voting rights need to be protected and extended rather than further restricted. That sounds pretty originalist to me.
“Once again, the death of justice Scalia and the resulting vacancy illustrates how important Appeals Court decisions….”
For those in swing states, it also illustrates the importance that our next president isn’t one who will appoint more Scalias.
DonDueed, #1:
Speaking of “not trying anymore,” I recall reading the dissents on Obergefell last year and feeling that the conservative justices were tired and just phoning it in at that point.