Just 14 hours after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked Wisconsin’s voter ID law for the Nov. 4 election, five appeals court judges Friday issued a blistering opinion calling allegations of voter impersonation fraud “a mere fig leaf for efforts to disenfranchise voters likely to vote for the political party that does not control the state government. Some of the ‘evidence’ of voter-impersonation fraud is downright goofy, if not paranoid, such as the nonexistent buses that according to the ‘True the Vote’ movement transport foreigners and reservation Indians to polling places,” wrote Judge Richard A. Posner of the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Posner, who was appointed to the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, was joined by four others in his dissenting opinion. The five other judges on the court did not spell out their views on the ID requirement. The latest ruling had no immediate practical effect, and the voter ID law remains blocked for the election.
Posner is one of the most influential judges in the country, and his writing may persuade the U.S. Supreme Court if it ultimately decides to scrutinize Wisconsin’s voter ID law.His views on voter ID are seen as key because seven years ago he wrote an opinion upholding Indiana’s law requiring identification at the polls.
Thursday’s decision by the Supreme Court marked the second time in a week the nation’s highest court handed down a ruling on a Wisconsin law. On Monday, the court issued an order allowing same-sex couples to get married in Wisconsin and four other states.
Full Article: Appeals court dissenters blister state’s voter I.D. law.