North Carolina Voter ID Law Blocked by Appeals Court as Discriminatory

A North Carolina appeals court on Tuesday blocked the state’s voter identification law from going into effect, arguing it was a “discriminatory intent” to suppress black votes and should have been blocked months ago.

In its unanimous ruling, the three-judge Court of Appeals panel reversed a lower court’s July decision that refused to prevent implementation of the photo ID requirement approved by the Republican-controlled General Assembly. The law came after voters added an ID requirement to the state constitution in November 2018.

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Lawyers for the state of North Carolina are appealing the federal ruling to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Republican legislative leaders have not said whether they’ll also appeal the state ruling.

The members of Tuesday’s panel — Judges Toby Hampson, Allegra Collins and John Arrowood — are all registered Democrats but aren’t on the 2020 ballot. Six of the seven state Supreme Court justices are registered Democrats. {snip}