Supreme Court Rejects Voter I.D. Challenge
The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a challenge to Indiana's voter-ID laws that requires residents to show a government-approved ID before voting in an election. In a 6-3 decision written by Justice John Paul Stevens, the ScotusBlog reports that "the court ruled that the evidence offered against the requirement in Indiana did not support a challenge to the law as written."
The voter ID ruling may turn out to be a significant victory for Republicans at election time, since the requirement for proof of identification is likely to fall most heavily on voters long assumed to be identified with the Democrats -- particularly minority and poor voters. The GOP for years has been actively pursuing a campaign against what it calls "voter fraud," and the Court's ruling Monday appears to validate that effort, at least in part. The main opinion said states have a valid interest in preventing voting by those not entitled to do so, even if there is no specific proof of that kind of fraud.
But the ruling does not bar future challenges to the law, since three of the justices said the problem was that not enough evidence was presented to overturn the law. Taken with the votes of the three dissenters, "a majority of the Court has not barred all future challenges to voter ID laws, provided future cases seek to test such laws they were actually applied in an election."
10:47 AM ET | 04-28-2008 | permalink
