US Supreme Court (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
The state Department of Justice is asking the US Supreme Court to pass on reviewing legal challenges to Wisconsin’s Voter ID law.
A federal court struck down the law, which requires to show a government-issued photo identification card at the polls, as the result of a legal challenge filed in 2011 by the American Civil Liberties Union. An appeals court overturned that decision last fall, and the ACLU asked the high court to take up the case.
In a court filing dated last Friday, the DOJ claims there is no need to revisit the appeals court decision and the law should be allowed to take effect again. Attorneys for the state argue that courts around the country have already upheld voter ID laws, and that there’s no pressing need to take up the issue right now.
Wisconsin’s photo ID requirement for voting has only been used once — for a primary in February of 2012. Court battles have kept it tied up since then. The appeals court briefly set the stage for it to be used during the elections this past November, but the US Supreme Court reinstated a hold on enforcement while it evaluated whether or not to hear an appeal of that decision.