GOP Legislative Leaders Ask Black Federal Judge to Grant Stay
NC Republican legislative leaders may be signaling that their defense of the 2018 voter I.D. law in federal court didn’t go as well as planned.
By Cash Michaels –
Earlier this month, attorneys for House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate Pro-tem Pres. Phil Berger filed a motion petitioning US District Court Judge Loretta Biggs to grant a stay if she rules that North Carolina’s 2018 voter photo identification law is unconstitutional due to racial bias.
Judge Biggs, who is Black, conducted a nine-day “bench” trial last May on a lawsuit against the law, hearing from at least two dozen witnesses. She did not indicate when she would issue a ruling in the case.
Attorneys for Republicans Moore and Berger filed their petition July 1st, asking Judge Biggs, if they lose, to at least issue the stay because,”… [w]hen an election is close at hand, the rules of the road must be clear and settled. “
“The Supreme Court’s ‘election-law precedents’ therefore ‘establish (I) that federal district courts ordinarily should not enjoin state election laws in the period close to an election, and (II) that federal appellate courts should stay injunctions when … lower federal courts contravene that principle.’”
With the critical presidential and NC gubernatorial November elections just four months away, the GOP attorneys cite a ruling knocking down the voter ID law would only add confusion to the election process.
“[T]he Court should stay its judgment and any injunction against enforcement of [the voter ID law] pending appeal because the 2024 general election is already close at hand, and the ‘State’s election machinery is already in progress,’” Republican legislative attorneys made clear, noting that “With absentee voting beginning just two months from now (and even closer to any decision entered in late summer or early fall), the Court should not belatedly enjoin enforcement of the election laws that North Carolina used in the 2023 municipal and 2024 primary elections.”
The result would be “chaos and confusion,” they allege.
If Judge Biggs, a Democrat, does not stay her own ruling if she goes against voter I.D., then unlike the 2023 municipal elections, and 2024 primary elections, photo I.D. would not be required for the 2024 November general elections.
Observers note that if Judge Biggs does rule against voter I.D., there is strong possibility that, upon appeal, a higher federal court could step in and stay her ruling.
