WASHINGTON - There are many ways to lose a Supreme Court case, and by the end of an argument that was before the court Wednesday, the Democrats who were challenging Indiana's voter-identification law appeared poised to lose theirs in a potentially sweeping way, with implications for many future election cases.
The arguments were over a challenge to an Indiana law, passed in 2005, that is backed by Republicans as a prudent way to deter voter fraud. Democrats call it a thinly veiled effort to discourage elderly, poor and minority voters -- those most likely to lack proper ID and who tend to vote for Democrats.
The justices' questioning indicated that a majority did not accept the challengers' basic argument -- that voter-impersonation fraud is not a problem, so photo identification at the polls is an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote.
The tenor of the argument suggested that rather than simply decide the case in favor of the state, a majority of five justices would go further and rule that the challenge to the statute, the nation's strictest voter-identification law, was improperly brought in the first place. Such a ruling could make it much more difficult to challenge any new state election regulations before they go into effect. The case should be decided by late June, in time for the elections.
NEW YORK TIMES, AP
