Correction: A previous version of this story mistakenly said that North Carolina’s motion had been filed with the Supreme Court. It had been filed to the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
North Carolina is asking the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to halt its ruling striking down the state’s voter ID law, and other voting restrictions the state passed in 2013. The state filed a motion for a stay with the appeals court Wednesday, asking the court to block implementation of the ruling while North Carolina readies a petition for the Supreme Court to hear the full case.
The motion argues that the state faces logistical issues in following the appeal’s court ruling ahead of November’s election.
However, it also previews how North Carolina says it will respond to the appeals court ruling in its petition for the Supreme Court to take up the full case.
North Carolina pushed back on the ruling by a panel on 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Friday that said Republican lawmakers passed that voter ID law and other restrictions with an intent to discriminate against African-American voters, which lean Democratic.
The state said the appeals court’s decision to overturn a district court’s ruling in favor of North Carolina was “unprecedented” and “presents serious federalism concerns as it impairs the right of North Carolina to adopt reasonable rules governing the time, place, and manner of elections.”
North Carolina also rebutted the appeals court’s discriminatory intent findings by pointing to increases in African-American turnout in elections where the voter ID law and other restriction were in place.
The motion said the appeals court misinterpreted Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, the 2008 Supreme Court decision that upheld Indiana’s voter ID law, and that the North Carolina case involves issues related to voting cases currently being litigated elsewhere in the country.
Read the full motion below:
