The Supreme Court Begs For A Case That Will Allow Them To Restrict Voting Rights

Minorities who want to vote are not safe from the Supreme Court yet.

Students signing up at voter registrationI believe that there are now five Supreme Court justices who are willing to restrict voting rights in this country. I believe that there are now five Supreme Court justices that are particularly eager to place voting restrictions that disproportionately affect black and brown voters. I believe that antipathy towards black people who vote is hardwired into Chief Justice John Roberts’s very soul.

I believe that the North Carolina voting rights case was not a clean enough headshot for what these people want to do, and so the Supreme Court punted while John Roberts begged for a better case.

The Court declined to review a Fourth Circuit decision that struck down North Carolina’s voter ID restrictions. Likely, there are at least four justices willing to review voting rights. But this case, the North Carolina case, is a procedural mess.

Former N.C. Governor Pat McCrory wanted to pursue the case all the way to the Supreme Court, but he lost his election. Current Governor Roy Cooper moved to dismiss the state’s appeal from the Fourth Circuit ruling, but other interest groups wanted the case to continue.

That’s why the Court punted. The Fourth Circuit said that North Carolina law struck at minorities with “surgical precision,” but in denying cert, John Roberts made it clear that wasn’t what was bothering him:

“Given the blizzard of filings over who is and who is not authorized to seek review in the court under North Carolina law, it is important to recall our frequent admonition that the denial of writ of certiorari imports no expression of opinion on the merits,” Roberts wrote in a statement.

Yes, let’s recall that a denial of cert just means that we don’t have the right case to do what we want to do.

Sponsored

I believe that the Supreme Court is not nearly done with the issue of voter ID laws.

Supreme Court declines to hear challenge to ruling striking down NC voter ID law [CNN]


Elie Mystal is an editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

Sponsored