Late yesterday, the Roberts Court allowed North Carolina to re-impose obstacles to voting that particularly harm African Americans. Over the dissents of Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor, and without explanation, the Justices issued a stay of the Fourth Circuit's order that the state not impose two particularly onerous rules (elimination of same-day registration and termination of out-of-precinct voting) until the conclusion of voters' lawsuits against the state currently pending in district court.
Justice Ginsburg pointed out in her dissent that these restrictions are a direct result of last year's Shelby County decision.
For decades, §5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, through its preclearance requirement, worked to safe guard long obstructed access to the ballot by African-American citizens. In Shelby County y. Holder, this Court found the Act's §4 coverage formula obsolete, a ruling that effectively nullified §5's preclearance requirement. Immediately after the Shelby County decision, North Carolina enacted omnibus House Bill 589, which imposed voter identification requirements, cut short early voting by a week, prohibited local election boards from keeping the polls open on the final Saturday afternoon before elections, eliminated same-day voter registration, terminated preregistration of 16- and 17-year olds in high schools, authorized any registered voter to challenge ballots cast early or on Election Day, and barred votes cast in the wrong precinct from being counted at all. These measures likely would not have survived federal preclearance. The Court of Appeals determined that at least two of the measures—elimination of same-day registration and termination of out-of-precinct voting—risked significantly reducing opportunities for black voters to exercise the franchise in violation of §2 of the Voting Rights Act. I would not displace that record-based judgment. [internal citations removed]
As North Carolinians go the polls next month, some will be turned away because same-day registration will no longer be available. Others will have their entire ballots thrown away rather than counted because the voter went to the wrong precinct, silencing their voices on a key statewide race that is the same in every precinct: The one for U.S. Senate, where the winner will likely vote on several Supreme Court confirmations and hundreds of lower federal court judges during their six-year term.
So voters might want to consider Shelby County when they cast that vote for Senate. Do they want a far-right senator who would confirm more judges like the ideologues who have made it so much easier to disenfranchise African Americans?
Courts matter. And next month, North Carolinians will have a chance to shape our courts for years to come.