The North Carolina Supreme Court struck down a state voter identification law Friday as being racially discriminatory.
The court ruled that Republican lawmakers acted unconstitutionally to minimize Democratic voters’ power with a law that intentionally discriminated against Black voters, reported the Washington Post.
“We hold that the three-judge panel’s findings of fact are supported by competent evidence showing that the statute was motivated by a racially discriminatory purpose,” Associate Justice Anita Earls wrote for the majority in the 89-page ruling. “The provisions enacted … were formulated with an impermissible intent to discriminate against African American voters in violation of the North Carolina Constitution.”
The court upheld a lower court’s 2021 ruling that a 2018 law requiring voters to present only certain photo IDs was unconstitutional. The 4-3 decision went along party lines, with all the court’s Democrat justices voting in the majority.
Senate Bill 824 was passed in 2018 by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature even after its Democratic governor vetoed it. It was passed during a lame-duck session before the party lost its supermajority.
But as Reuters point out, the decision comes just before the court flips to GOP control on January 1, when there will be five Republican justices and two Democrats.
Republican-led legislatures in several states have passed similar voter ID laws in recent years, arguing they are needed to prevent voter fraud.
But critics including Democrats and voting rights advocates say the laws are likely to suppress votes from African Americans, who are both more likely to vote Democratic and lack the needed identity cards.
Regardless, it is entirely possible that after January 1, the GOP-controlled state supreme court will view favorably any new attempts by the GOP-controlled legislature to pass a new voter ID bill.
