WI ballot

UPDATED 10:48 p.m. In Corpus Christi, Texas, a federal trial judge struck down a voter ID law in that state which had been challenged by the Obama administration and civil rights and voting rights groups. U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos found that Texas had intentionally discriminated against black and Hispanic voters in adopting the law. The judge next plans to move on to the challengers’ request that Texas be ordered to come to court to get clearance for any new voting law it enacts — a seldom-used power open to the judge under the Voting Rights Act of 1965’s Section 3(c). Even under the decision on Thursday, the judge said, Texas would have to get permission for any remedy it attempts for the violation found in this ruling.

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Over a mild protest by three Justices, the Supreme Court on Thursday night barred Wisconsin from enforcing a requirement that voters must produce a photo identification before voting, by absentee ballot or in person. The Court majority’s one-paragraph order gave no reason, but the fact that this year’s election is less than a month away may have been the key factor.

The Wisconsin law, challenged by civil rights and citizens’ advocacy groups, was described by them as “one of the strictest voter ID laws in the country.” It would require voters to show one of only nine specific forms of identification to cast a ballot. Apparently, thousands of Wisconsin voters have already cast ballots without producing the kind of ID required, and tens of thousands reportedly do not have the right kind of ID. November 4 is the general election day this year.

The Court’s order was unsigned, but apparently had the votes of at least five Justices, since that would have been the minimum necessary to set aside a lower court’s order.

Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., joined in dissent by Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, would have allowed the law to be enforced for fairly technical legal reasons, but they conceded that “there is a colorable basis for the Court’s decision due to the proximity of the upcoming general election.”