Supreme Court Allows Arizona Voter ID Law

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Friday that Arizona may enforce a law requiring voters in that state to provide proof of American citizenship in order to vote in the November 7 mid-term elections. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had halted implementation of the law on October 11, pending the outcome of an appeal to the law filed by the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc.

Without expressing an opinion on the final disposition of legal challenges to the law, the Supreme Court's decision (.pdf), stated, "Given the imminence of the election and the inadequate time to resolve the factual disputes, our action today shall of necessity allow the election to proceed without any injunction suspending the voter identification rules."

The Supreme Court further indicated that the basic constitutionality of voter-ID laws remained in question. "As we have noted, the facts in these cases are hotly contested, and [n]o bright line separates permissible election-related regulation from unconstitutional infringements," the Justices wrote.

Arizona's Proposition 200, approved as a ballot initiative by voters in 2004, requires voters to produce proof of citizenship such as a passport, in order to register to vote, and a form of picture ID, like a driver's license, in order to actually cast a ballot. However, as the Supreme Court noted in its ruling, voters without proper identification will be allowed to cast a provisional ballot. Those voters will then be given five business days to provide election officials with proper identification in order for their vote to be counted.

The Supreme Court's ruling on the Arizona voter-ID law came in the form of a per curiam, or "by the court" decision. Per curiam decisions are rulings handed down by courts with multiple judges, in which the court acts as a whole, rather than by the votes of the individual judges. Per curiam opinions are not necessarily unanimous and may be accompanied by dissenting opinions.

Also See:
Federal Court Halts Arizona Voter-ID Law
Real ID Act: Better Find Your Birth Certificate
Real ID Act Could Cost States $11 Billion