High court likely to uphold Ariz. voter restrictions

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court appeared ready Tuesday to uphold voting restrictions in Arizona in a key case that could make it harder to challenge a raft of other voting measures that Republicans have proposed following last year’s elections.

All six conservative justices suggested they would throw out an appellate ruling that struck down the restrictions as racially discriminatory under the Voting Rights Act. The three liberal members of the court were more sympathetic to the challengers.

Less clear is what standard the court might set for how to prove discrimination under the law, first enacted in 1965.

The outcome could make it harder, if not impossible, to use the Voting Rights Act to sue over legislation that creates obstacles to voting in the name of election security. Such measures are currently making their way through dozens of Republican-controlled state legislatures.

The high court’s last major Voting Rights Act decision was in 2013, when a 5-4 conservative majority gutted the part of the law that forced state and local governments with a history of discrimination, including Arizona, to get advance approval from the Justice Department or a federal court before making changes to elections. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the court’s opinion.

The current case involves the remaining portion of the law that applies nationwide and still prohibits discrimination in voting on the basis of race.

A decision is expected by early summer.