On Sept. 12, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago reinstated Wisconsin’s voter ID law, which will require Wisconsin voters to produce a government-issued photo ID at this November’s election polls. The decision overturned U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman’s ruling that the Wisconsin law violated the Constitution and the Voting Rights Act.
The ruling was split 5-5 among the 10 judges deciding the appeal and reflected bipartisan party lines.
Bush appointees Diane Sykes and John Tinder, and Reagan appointees Frank Easterbrook, Joel Flaum and Michael Kanne voted to uphold the controversial law. On the other hand, Chief Judge Diane Wood, Obama appointee David Hamilton, Clinton appointee Ann Claire Williams, Reagan appointee Richard Posner, and Bush Senior appointee Ilana Rovner voted to uphold District Judge Lynn Adelman’s previous decision, expressing concern that the reinstated legislation would negatively impact voter turnout and disproportionately affect minority communities within the state of Wisconsin.
After weeks of debate and outrage from voters’ rights groups throughout the U.S., the 7th Circuit refused to rehear the suit on Sept. 26 and issued an opinion shortly after.
The opinion avoided the issue of race and class entirely.
Reagan appointee Frank Easterbrook wrote, “The number of registered voters without a qualifying photo ID…[reflects] how many persons have not taken the necessary time…” to obtain it.
In contrast, Clinton appointee Claire Williams did not avoid the issues of race and class in her strongly worded dissent and emphasized that the Wisconsin photo ID law will disenfranchise roughly 300,000 registered voters.
“To put this number in context, the 2010 governor’s race in Wisconsin was decided by 124,638 votes and the election for United States Senator by 105,041 votes,” she wrote.
Similarly, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) challenged the 7th Circuit’s decision.
“The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging the law, and petitioned for a full appeals court review following the panel’s order on September 12 allowing the law to take effect,” said the ACLU’s Sept. 26 press release. “The ACLU presented oral arguments to the panel that day asking the court to uphold the April decision striking down the law as unconstitutional and in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.”
Wisconsin officials, under the leadership of Governor Scott Walker, are working fast to fully implement the newly reinstated law. The Republican governor was quick to express his support for the “common sense” legislation.
Despite the 7th Circuit’s quick decision, the 5-5 vote merely revokes the district court’s previous decision, and debate will likely continue after November’s elections.
Similar disputes have gained prominence in nearly a dozen other states, further drawing national attention to the voters’ rights debate. Voters’ rights groups throughout the U.S., including the ACLU, have petitioned Justice Elena Kagan of the U.S. Supreme Court; however, the Supreme Court has yet to take significant action on the matter.