Supreme Court Blocks Use of Student IDs in New Hampshire Midterm Election
Seven Lights
The Supreme Court said Thursday that student IDs cannot be used in New Hampshire for the midterm elections, in a ruling NBC News described as a win for Republicans. The high court said a federal judge shouldn’t have changed the rules so close to the Nov. 3 election by blocking guidance issued by New Hampshire’s secretary of state, NBC News reported.
The justices granted an emergency request filed by the state, which had the backing of the Republican National Committee, NBC News reported. The dispute arises from a state law enacted in April that removed student IDs from the list of forms of identification that election officials would accept when someone requests a ballot, NBC News said. While a state law restricting use of student IDs as a primary form of identification was already on the books, the decision means potential voters also cannot use them as backups when they seek to establish their identities, NBC News reported.
The brief court order said a federal judge should not have ordered a change in voting rules so close to the Nov. 3 election, citing existing precedent on that point, NBC News reported. “Here, the District Court did not point to anything that would justify deviating from that principle,” the unsigned order said, as quoted by NBC News. The Hill, citing the Associated Press, reported the same order blocking the use of student IDs in the state’s midterm election. Fox News reported that the court cleared the way for New Hampshire to bar the use of student IDs as ID in the midterms, and CBS News reported the ruling that the state can ban student IDs as voter identification for the November election.
Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the sole dissenter, NBC News reported. “I would not disturb a clearly justifiable federal court order issued to ensure that the public receives accurate information about a State’s electoral processes,” she wrote, as quoted by NBC News.
The ballot in New Hampshire includes a closely watched Senate race that could play a key role in deciding control of the chamber, NBC News reported. Republican former Sen. John E. Sununu is pitted against Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas for the seat held by retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, NBC News said.
The case reached the high court on an emergency basis, and the court did not rule on the merits of the April law itself; its order addressed only whether the federal judge was right to change the rules so near the election, NBC News said. The Hill reported that the state had sought emergency relief after a lower-court ruling left student IDs on the list of acceptable identification ahead of the election.