Justice Department Poised to File Lawsuit Over Voter ID Law

By Charlie Savage, New York Times

“Election law specialists expressed caution. Richard H. Pildes, a New York University law professor, said the Justice Department faced a complex legal challenge, ‘particularly when some of these changes, such as reducing early voting, involve measures that make voting more convenient but don’t restrict direct access to the ballot box.’

Richard L. Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, said the department would ‘have a hard time proving constitutional or Voting Rights Act violations against North Carolina,’ adding that proving intentional racial discrimination is difficult and ‘even though many minority voters are Democrats, discrimination against Democrats cannot be the basis for these voting claims.’

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. has repeatedly promised ‘aggressive’ action to protect voting rights. In a speech this month, he called the June Supreme Court ruling ‘deeply flawed’ and said the Justice Department would ‘not allow the court’s action to be interpreted as ‘open season’ for states to pursue measures that suppress voting rights.'”

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