Apr 28, 2008 -- Supreme Court Indiana Voter ID Decision: No Carte Blanche for Violating Voting Rights of Poor, or Elderly, or Minority Voters - Statement of J. Gerald Hebert, Campaign Legal Center Executive Director

While today's decision in the Indiana voter ID case comes as no great surprise, it is nonetheless disappointing. As the Campaign Legal Center noted in its amicus brief the voter ID law in Indiana was quite similar to many other historical measures enacted in our Nation's history (e.g., poll taxes, literacy tests, etc.) that disfranchised voters but, like voter ID laws, were advanced as good government reforms.

We expect that today's decision will be seen as a green light by a number of state legislatures considering enactment of onerous photo ID laws. But ramming through bills for partisan gain would however be a mistake in light of the narrow ruling from the High Court today.

It is helpful that six Justices in the Indiana case leave the door open to future challenges to onerous restrictions on voting rights, including challenges to Indiana voter ID laws. States seeking to enact voter ID laws in the future will have to exercise great care that they show a strong state interest justifying such burdens on the right to vote. States must balance their interests with the effect such laws will have on the poor, elderly, minorities, and the physically disabled.

What today's decision affirms is that facial constitutional challenges to laws that burden the right to vote before they go into effect will be difficult to win, because such cases often proceed without a fully developed record regarding the actual impact on voters.