Voter ID Laws Debate: ACLU Files Petition Asking US Supreme Court to Strike Down Wisconsin Law, Deem It Unconstitutional
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a petition Wednesday to ask the United States Supreme Court to review a decision that upheld Wisconsin's voter ID law.
According to ACLU press release, last April, a federal judge struck down the Wisconsin voter ID law as unconstitutional and in violation of the Voting Rights Act. ACLU is now challenging that law which is now winding its way through the courts since the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the judge's decision and the Supreme Court put it on hold.
"Efforts to restrict access to the ballot demand a full and thorough hearing, which is why we are asking the Supreme Court to review this case and ultimately strike down Wisconsin's voter ID law," Dale Ho, director of the ACLU's Voting Rights Project, said via the release. "Throughout years of litigation, Wisconsin has failed to identify a single instance of the type of fraud this law purportedly seeks to prevent. At the same time, it is absolutely clear this law would prevent thousands of voters from exercising the most fundamental right in our democracy. The Supreme Court has an opportunity now to help protect the right of all Americans to vote free from undue burdens."
ACLU and other civil rights advocates are working together in asking the Supreme Court to reverse the voter ID decision, Green Bay Press reports. They say the law's measures go against the rights of black and Hispanic voters who may lack ID and do not prove to help fight voter fraud.
"Unless this court acts now, the court likely will continue to be put in the untenable position of refereeing voter ID disputes on an emergency basis on the eve of elections every two years," the ACLU's attorneys argued. "Given the stakes for so many voters across the country, and the uncertainty among lower courts ... this court should grant (review)."
Republican legislators passed Wisconsin's law in 2011 which requires all voters to show photo identification at the polls.
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