Supreme Court upholds decision

By Chris King

Of the St. Louis American

On Monday the Supreme Court of Missouri handed down a ruling that leaves the Republican-driven Voter ID Law dead three weeks before the Nov. 7 mid-term elections.

In a 6-1 opinion, the court affirmed the decision of Circuit Court Judge Richard G. Callahan, which had struck down the new law. Among other less controversial provisions, the law required that Missouri voters present a state-sanctioned photo ID at the polls.

Legal experts in Missouri judged the matter now closed, with no recourse for appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Arthur A. Benson II, a Kansas City attorney who filed a Friend of the Court brief with the state Supreme Court and who has been following the case closely, said there is “quite clearly” no basis for further appeal.

“The plaintiffs in the trial court and the Supreme Court were careful to base their arguments solely on Missouri’s own state constitution, and the Missouri Supreme Court’s interpretation of its own constitution is final,” Benson said.

“It could only be taken to the U.S. Supreme Court to review issues of federal law, and there were none.”

State Senator Delbert Scott (R-Lowry City), who introduced the Voter ID Bill, told the American the legislation will be back next session, in revamped form.

“We will take up some of the issues pointed out by the court,” Scott said, regarding a revision of the bill.

“It’s a priority.”

In a commentary printed in full on page A5, state Sen. Maida Coleman said that Democrats were open to “real” electoral reform, but “what we will not do is entertain cosmetic changes to this rejected proposal.”

For now, victory in the courts is sweet for Democrats.

“In its near-unanimous ruling, the Missouri Supreme Court recognized that all Missourians have the fundamental right to vote,” said state Rep. John Bowman, Missouri Legislative Black Caucus chairman.

“Under the guise of fighting a type of voter fraud the court recognized doesn’t exist in this state, Republican lawmakers sought to disenfranchise thousands of minority, low-income and elderly voters who have been harmed by GOP policies.”

Plaintiffs in the original trial presented evidence that some 169,000 to 240,000 Missouri citizens lack the requisite photo ID and might have been deprived of the right to vote had the law remained in effect.

“Democrats were certain that requiring voters to purchase the necessary documents in order to obtain their ‘free’ voter ID was dangerously close to a poll tax, and we knew that many of those voters who had no photo ID were the most likely to be victimized by the hidden costs,” Coleman said.

“The court protected Missourians from a Legislature so bloated with power that their partisanship swallowed their good sense.”

Coleman also made the connection - taken for granted in the state’s political circles - that the Republicans’ failed ploy was intended to bolster incumbent Republican Sen. Jim Talent, who is threatened by a Democratic challenger, state Auditor Claire McCaskill.

Using country language, Coleman said the legislation “was forced down our throats last spring by a greedy Republican Party looking to serve Jim Talent up some victory hash.”

The state Republican Party, on the other hand, charged that it was the Democrats’ fight to defeat the legislation in the courts that was “politically motivated.”

“The Supreme Court has done a great disservice to the voters of our state by striking down a law that has been the focus of a politically-motivated Democrat Party attack on our election system,” said Paul Sloca, communications director for the Missouri Republican Party.

Sloca singled out for their “pathetic performance” Attorney General Jeremiah “Jay” Nixon and Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, two Democrats with high ambitions for statewide office

The Republican leadership in Missouri, including Governor Matt Blunt, has repeatedly defended the legislation as a deterrent to rampant voter fraud.

However, lawyers for the plaintiffs in the original trial presented in court a statement made by Blunt in 2004 (when he was secretary of state) that Missouri’s statewide elections in 2002 and 2004 “were two of the cleanest and problem-free elections in recent history.”

The state Supreme Court was firm in its judgment that the Voter ID Law, contrary to the claims of the Missouri Republican Party, does nothing to combat recent cases of voter fraud in the state.

“While Missouri also has an interest in combating perceptions of voter fraud, where the fundamental rights to vote of Missouri citizens are at stake, more than mere perception is required for their abridgment,” the court ruled.

“The identification requirement does not address any perception of voter fraud with precision, nor is it necessary to solve any existing voter fraud problems.”

Indeed, the majority opinion reads like a vindication of the Democrats’ claim that the Voter ID Law was a politically-motivated red herring.

“The public could believe that the new law has prevented fraud in Missouri elections, whereas the type of fraud that has been shown to exist - fraud in registration and in absentee ballots - is not addressed by the Photo ID Requirement and may still need resolution,” the court ruled.

“The protection of our most precious state constitutional rights must not founder in the tumultuous tides of public misperception.”