Voter ID: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court Heard Arguments Today

Today the Pennsylvania Supreme Court heard arguments over the state’s strict — I mean, discriminatory — voter ID law. The case is on appeal from a lower court ruling. Unless overturned by the PA Supreme Court, the voter ID law is set to be enforced this election day, November 6th, potentially disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of PA voters.

Opponents of the law, an assortment of individuals, civil rights groups and others, attacked it as an illegal restriction on voting rights guaranteed by the state Constitution.

Two justices in particular, Seamus McCaffery and Debra McCloskey Todd, grilled the state’s attorneys on why the legislature was determined to implement the law in November, with a Presidential race on the line and Pennsylvania regarded in some quarters as a swing state.

“Could there be politics, maybe?” McCaffery asked, prompting a brief spurt of laughter in the Supreme Court’s courtroom on the 4th floor of City Hall, filled to standing-room-only with more than a hundred spectators.

The court is expected to render its decision swiftly, since the law’s opponents are seeking an injunction before the November election. – Pa. Supreme Court hears arguments on voter ID law

Stay tuned.

Election 2012PoliticsVoter SuppressionVoting Rights

#election#Pennsylvania#photo ID#Supreme Court#vote#voter ID#voting rights