A federal judge has upheld a new Republican-backed voting law in North Carolina that critics say will suppress minority voter turnout.

Last year, state Republican lawmakers passed a law that included provisions to shorten the early voting period and end same-day registration.

Civil rights groups filed lawsuits against the law, arguing that it violates the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 because it places an unnecessary burden on the right to vote and largely discriminates against African-American voters.

The controversial law is set to go to trial in the summer of 2015.

However, in order to avoid the law's potentially damaging effects during the upcoming Midterm Elections this November, challengers petitioned the court for a preliminary injunction, reports MSNBC.

However, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas D. Schroeder ruled in favor of North Carolina's new voting law on Friday. As a result, the law will remain in effect until the law goes to trial next year. Judge Schroeder also rejected the state's request to avoid a full trial.

According to WTVD-TV, North Carolina NAACP President Rev. William Barber slammed the ruling in a statement, saying, "If one elderly, young, black, white or Latino person decides she won't vote because of the shorter early voting, the elimination of same-day registration, the confusing ballots without straight-ticket voting and other sections of this voter suppression law that are still standing because of today's court decision, that is indeed an irreparable harm."

On the other hand, the chief legal counsel to Gov. McCrory, Bob Stephens, applauded the decision.

"This is a victory for North Carolina's popular law that requires identification to vote. North Carolina is joining a majority of states in common sense protections that preserve the sanctity of the voting booth," he said. "Today's ruling is just more evidence that this law is constitutional -- as we have said from the very onset of this process."