In Victory for Voting Rights, Supreme Court denies North Carolina’s Request for Stay
WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Supreme Court denied North Carolina’s request for a stay of the 4th Circuit’s ruling striking the challenged provisions of HB589, North Carolina’s monster voter suppression law. As a result, the provisions struck down by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will not be in effect for the November elections. Advancement Project, a multi-racial civil rights organization involved in litigating the North Carolina case, issued the following statement:
“The court’s refusal to stay the previous ruling on North Carolina’s monster voter suppression is a victory for voters and communities of color,” said Judith Browne Dianis, Executive Director of Advancement Project’s national office. “For the short term, this means that North Carolinians will not be subject to those restrictive voting practices in the upcoming election. Voter ID and the other provisions of HB589 are about politicians trying to shut out the rising American electorate from the polls. As the movement racks up victories, with the evidence proven in court after court, opponents of voting rights are running out of ways to keep us from the ballot.”
“Today’s announcement means that the ruling on North Carolina’s voter suppression law has passed yet another test,” said Denise Lieberman, Senior Attorney at Advancement Project’s national office. “The ruling makes clear that North Carolina photo ID law – which made voting harder for thousands of voters – won’t be in place for the upcoming elections. It underscores why voting restrictions like those passed in North Carolinas – or those proposed in other states like Missouri – should not be allowed to go into effect, and why Congress must act to reinstate the protections of the Voting Rights Act.”
“In its ruling, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals said it ‘cannot ignore the record of evidence that, because of race, the legislature enacted one of the largest restrictions of the franchise in modern North Carolina History,’” said Donita Judge, Senior Attorney at Advancement Project’s national office. “Today’s announcement is another victory for the court’s findings and their crystal-clear rejection of voter ID as a tool for voter suppression.”
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Advancement Project is a multi-racial civil rights organization. Founded by a team of veteran civil rights lawyers in 1999, Advancement Project was created to develop and inspire community-based solutions based on the same high quality legal analysis and public education campaigns that produced the landmark civil rights victories of earlier eras.
