Major Win For Voting Rights As Supreme Court Refuses To Hear North Carolina Case
The Republican attack on voting rights of African Americans just suffered a major blow.
In a major win for voting rights, the United States Supreme Court effectively killed North Carolina’s voter ID law on Monday by refusing to hear the state’s appeal of a lower court’s decision.
A Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals judge ruled against the 2013 voter suppression law and Monday the Supreme Court declined to overturn that decision.
In its ruling, the Fourth Circut judge said that North Carolina’s ballot restrictions targeted black voters “with almost surgical precision.”
The court also said that the North Carolina General Assembly created the law that restricted voting and registration in five ways, all which were targeted at black voters.
Among the law’s most restrictive aspects were a requirement of showing identification before casting a ballot, the elimination of same-day registration, and the reduction of early voting from 17 days to 10.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) issued a statement praising the Supreme Court decision as a major victory.
“This law, enacted with what the appeals court called discriminatory intent and ‘almost surgical precision’ targeting African-American voters, is meeting its much-deserved demise,” said the director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project.
“An ugly chapter in voter suppression is finally closing.”
