The state Supreme Court has set a date to hear challenges to Wisconsin’s stalled voter ID requirement. Justices will hear oral arguments on February 25th, as they consider lawsuits from the League of Women Voters and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People that argue the voter ID law is unconstitutional.
Judges in Dane County ruled against the state in both cases, blocking enforcement of the law that requires voters in Wisconsin to show a government-issued photo ID card at the polls. An appeals court later overturned the decision in the League’s case, and the high court consolidated it with the state’s appeal in the NAACP lawsuit.
The law was passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature in 2011. It was only in effect for a single election in early 2012, and has been on hold since February of that year.
While the Supreme Court will hear arguments next month, it could be quite some time before a decision is released. Even after that happens, two other lawsuits are still pending in the federal court system.