Federal court upholds North Carolina voter ID law in win for Republican lawmakers
A federal judge struck down a challenge to North Carolina’s long-contested voter ID law Thursday, finding that the North Carolina NAACP failed to establish that the law was an unconstitutional infringement of Black and Latino voters’ rights in light of recent higher court rulings.
The challenge concerned North Carolina Senate Bill 824, passed in December 2018 over Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto, which requires voters to present photo identification before casting their ballots. The lawsuit alleged that the bill is racially discriminatory against Black and Latino voters, who disproportionately lack access to qualifying photo identification.
In her ruling, Middle District of North Carolina Judge Loretta Copeland Biggs made clear that she felt recent appellate and Supreme Court precedent prevented her from finding sufficient evidence of discrimination from voter ID laws, despite an unequal burden placed on voters of different races and historic voting discrimination against non-white voters.
“The record before this Court makes clear that it is simply much more difficult for racial minorities to vote and to have their vote counted,” Biggs wrote. “Even in the shadow of significant evidence of disparate impact, the law of the case doctrine compels the conclusion that the record before this Court does not establish discriminatory intent.”
https://ncnewsline.com/2026/03/26/federal-court-upholds-north-carolina-voter-id-law-in-win-for-republican-lawmakers/