Top court won’t revive N. Carolina voter law

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a closely watched and unexpected, but perhaps temporary, blow to the voter-identification movement Monday, refusing to reinstate North Carolina ballot restrictions that the 4th Circuit Court said target blacks “with almost surgical precision .”

Turning away the appeal by state Republican leaders, the justices left intact a ruling that said the provisions were racial ly discriminatory in violation of federal voting-rights law, although it also leaves unsettled some crucial issues that are expected to come back in another case and on another day.

In addition to requiring people to show a photo ID, the North Carolina law reduced the number of earlyvoting days and eliminated same-day registration and out-of-precinct voting.

The rebuff was a surprise because four conservative justices previously tried to revive the measure before the 2016 election. That effort failed because it was an emergency request that required five votes, but the court could have accepted the latest appeal with only four votes.

Also, the court’s conservatives are seen as newly reinforced by rookie Justice Neil Gorsuch.

In a statement that accompanied the court’s order Monday, Chief Justice John Roberts pointed to uncertainty over an important procedural aspect of the case, disagreement over who was authorized to file an appeal on behalf of the state.

The leaders of North Carolina’s Republican-controlled Legislature seized on that point Monday, all but stating that they would seek to enact new voting restrictions after their defeat.