News & Commentary

In a major victory for voting rights, Wisconsin’s voter ID law has been struck down by a federal court, which found that it illegally discriminates against racial minorities.

At 2:17 pm EST today, ESPN announced that LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling had been banned from the NBAfor life for his racist remarks.

For the first time since the Supreme Court junked a core provision of the Voting Rights Act in June, a federal court has used the strongest surviving part of the act to strike down a state’s voter-identification law, and, in the process, has set out a detailed road map for upcoming challenges to similar laws around the country.

Wisconsin voters won't be forced to present a photo ID to gain access to the ballot thanks to a new federal court decision. U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman ruled on Tuesday that the state's voter ID law violates the constitutional rights of minority and low-income voters. In his decision, Adelman cited the Voting Rights Act to invalidate the 2011 Wisconsin law—passed by the state legislature and signed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker—that implemented a photo ID requirement for all voters.

A federal judge in Milwaukee on Tuesday threw out Wisconsin’s voter ID law, saying it unconstitutionally puts too great a burden on people who do not have the required identification to vote.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A federal judge in Milwaukee struck down Wisconsin's voter identification law Tuesday, declaring that a requirement that voters show a state-issued photo ID at the polls imposes an unfair burden on poor and minority voters.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A federal judge struck down Wisconsin's voter identification law Tuesday, declaring that a requirement that voters show a state-issued photo ID at the polls imposes an unfair burden on poor and minority voters.

By Helen Vera, National Prison Project Fellow  

By Gordon Lafer | April 24, 2014