(Washington Times) — The absence of Justice Antonin Scalia continues to be felt as the Supreme Court lurches ever leftward on key cases. Because the Court is evenly divided along ideological lines, its 4-to-4 votes leave mostly liberal lower court rulings intact.
Recent examples include upholding racial quotas at the University of Texas, killing a Texas law requiring abortion clinics to have basic medical standards, and eviscerating voter ID laws in several states.
Last Wednesday, the Court refused to reinstate North Carolina’s voter ID law or even parts of it, upholding the Fourth Circuit’s ruling that the law is discriminatory in intent, if not effect.
Attorney Paul Clement, representing the state, asked the Court to reinstate three provisions: requiring voters to present any of eight forms of identification; reducing early voting from 17 days to 10 days, and ending “pre-registration” in which 16-year-olds could preregister even when not eligible to vote in the next election.
