It’s no secret that partisan state legislators, once in power, frequently try to alter voting laws to give their party an advantage. But increasingly, when those laws are challenged in federal court, the outcome appears to turn on whether the judges or justices hearing the case were appointed by Republicans or Democrats. Last month, North Carolina’s Republican leaders were blocked from enforcing several new restrictions on voting that had been adopted over the fierce opposition of Democrats. They included less time for early voting and a requirement that a registered voter show one of several specific types of photo ID cards. A federal judge appointed by former President George W. Bush had upheld the full law in April, deciding the regulations were reasonable. They were struck down in late July by a panel of three judges of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, all of them Democratic appointees, who said the new rules violate the federal Voting Rights Act because they “target African Americans with almost surgical precision.”
They noted the law would allow people to vote by showing a military or veterans ID, but not if they had photo IDs showing they worked for a city or a state agency, were enrolled in a state university or received public assistance. More whites than blacks rely on mail-in ballots, and these were “exempted” from the photo ID rule, the appeals court noted.
When the state’s Republican governor appealed to the Supreme Court, he lost when the justices split 4-4. The high court’s four Republican appointees voted to restore the GOP-backed rules, while the four Democratic appointees refused.
Three years ago, the high court split 5-4 to weaken part of the Voting Rights Act that had prevented Southern states and counties from making changes in their voting rules without clearing them with the U.S. Justice Department. The court’s five Republican appointees voted to strike down this part of the law, while the four Democratic appointees dissented.
Full Article: Court disputes over voting laws often divide justices along party lines – LA Times.