The League of Women Voters in Wisconsin announced it will file a lawsuit in Dane County Circuit Court charging that the Badger State’s newly-enacted polling place photo ID restriction law violates the state’s Constitution. From a strictly legal perspective, the decision by the League’s attorney Lester Pines to challenge the new photo ID law pursuant to the state’s Constitution is significant.
Under Equal Protection analysis, any impartial jurist would readily understand that the statute does not meet the heightened scrutiny that accompanies the fact that, under the WI Constitution, voting is deemed a “fundamental right.”
While certain exclusions are allowed in the Constitution, such as laws which exclude felons or those who the state deems “mentally incompetent”, the language explicitly notes that “every United States citizen age 18 or older who is a resident” of Wisconsin may cast a vote.
But therein lies the rub. Absent the removal of Justice David Prosser in connection with the allegations that he choked Justice Ann Walsh-Bradley, as is currently being investigated by a special prosecutor, the League’s constitutional challenge will run smack dab into a WI Supreme Court that sports a 4-3 majority of partisan ideologues in robes.
Full Article: The BRAD BLOG : Political Hurdles for League of Women Voters’ State Constitutional Challenge to WI Photo ID Law.