Judge Wouldn’t Decide On Pa. Voter ID Injunction Today

[DonViejo]

Source: TPM

Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson told lawyers that he wouldn't be issuing his decision on whether to block Pennsylvania's voter ID law in court on Thursday, the Associated Press reports. Under a state Supreme Court ruling, Simpson has until Tuesday to decide whether to enjoin the law depending upon whether the state could prove it was providing "liberal access" to photo identification. Simpson heard from several Pennsylvania voters on Thursday who testified that they faced hurdles in obtaining photo identification from the state.

Read more: http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/judge-wouldnt-decide-on-pa-voter-id-injunction

[AlinPA]

1. Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson (R). He upheld it earlier. Gee, how will he rule now?

[kooljerk666]

2. This guy appears to be working for Crossroads GPS...........

in his last decision he used some racist crap from an 1869 decision............

this is convoluted & long & carpal is hurting so.............

The law approved in Patterson enacted a complicated set of registration procedures for Philadelphia (with its large working-class and immigrant populations) and a simpler procedure for the rest of the state. Equally outrageous, the law required any would-be voter who gave a hotel or boarding house as his address to go through an arduous verification process, including getting two "private householders" to swear that he was qualified to vote. That process effectively disenfranchised the workmen who filled the city boarding houses at the end of the 19th century. [...]

To be sure, the new voter ID law is different from the law upheld in Patterson. So it is possible to acknowledge Patterson's illegitimacy and find other reasons to approve voter ID.

The [Pennsylvania Supreme] court should not compound its earlier mistake by treating Patterson as legal support for new voting procedures. Given the biased nature of that old decision, using it to uphold new voter ID requirements can only undermine public confidence in the state's electoral—and judicial—process.

For much more on this case... http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/11/1130546/-Pennsylvania-ruling-on-voter-ID-relied-on-bigoted-decision-in-1869-case

[hrmjustin]

3. Well you know that he is going to make us sweat, because he has to reverse himself in the end. n/t