Georgia: Judge Murphy blocks new voter I.D. law
UPDATE: The Rome News-Tribune has a more detailed story: U.S. District Court and the Georgia Supreme Court both dealt blows to the state’s voter ID law on Wednesday, issuing orders that will prevent enforcement of the law at next Tuesday’s primary and possibly the general election in November.
U.S. District Court Judge Harold L. Murphy found the law unconstitutional, blocking its enforcement on grounds that it violates the First and Fourteenth amendments. The General Assembly could offer another version of the law, he said, but it “cannot pass and enforce a voter ID law with a discriminatory purpose.”
Murphy had not yet made that ruling Wednesday afternoon when attorneys arguing over the matter received word of a Georgia Supreme Court decision that upheld a temporary restraining order against the law issued in Fulton County Superior Court last week.
The justices did not offer any reasoning for their decision but noted that all concurred other than Presiding Justice Carol W. Hunstein, who did not participate. -- Voter ID pulled for primary
AP reports: The same federal judge who threw out Georgia's voter photo identification law last year issued a ruling today that blocks the state from enforcing its revised law during this year's elections.
The federal ruling came down less than an hour and a half after the Georgia Supreme Court denied the state's emergency request to overrule a state court order that blocked enforcement of the new photo ID law during next week's primary elections and any runoffs.
If the rulings stand, Georgia voters will not have to show a government-issued photo ID to cast a ballot. The state's primary elections are scheduled for Tuesday and the general elections will be Nov. 7. -- Macon Telegraph | 07/12/2006 | Under rulings, Georgia can't require voter photo IDs this year
My comment: I just checked the Pacer system and the order is not there yet. If anyone has it, please email it to me. And when the inevitable emergency motion to the 11th Circuit is filed, please email that to me. I will post both.