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Monday, April 28, 2008

Courts - Supreme Court rejects voter ID law challenge [Updated]

See the writeup by Lyle Denniston of SCOTUSBlog here. Some quotes:

The Supreme Court, voting 6-3, on Monday rejected a constitutional challenge to Indiana’s law requiring voters to show a photo ID before they may cast a ballot. Three Justices said the evidence offered against the requirement in Indiana did not support a challenge to the law as written — that is, a “facial” challenge, and three others said the law only imposed a minimal and justified burden on voters. Three Justices dissented. The decision, in the case of Crawford v. Marion County Election Board (07-21) and a companion case, was the only ruling of the day. * * *

Putting together the three votes of Justices who found the particular challenge to Indiana’s law wanting on the evidence, with the votes of the three dissenters, means, however, that a majority of the Court has not barred all future challenges to voter ID laws, provided future cases seek to test such laws as they were actually applied in a specific election. Still, the plurality opinion that announced the Court’s judgment – written by Justice John Paul Stevens — probably means that any such “as-applied” challenges would not be easy to make.

Here is the opinion. Here is initial AP coverage.

[Updated] Here is Rick Hasen's initial take on the ruling, via the Election Law Blog.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 28, 2008 10:41 AM
Posted to Courts in general