A federal judge recently upheld North Carolina’s photo voter identification (ID) law, closing a legal fight that began in 2018 when the law was first challenged in federal court and delivering a major victory to Republican lawmakers who enacted the requirement.
U.S. District Judge Loretta Biggs — an Obama appointee who had blocked the law ahead of the 2020 election — ruled March 26 that the requirement does not violate the U.S. Constitution or the Voting Rights Act. In her 134-page opinion, Biggs found that the challengers failed to prove that Republican lawmakers acted with discriminatory intent. She also argued that some racial groups face a heavier burden in obtaining an ID but concluded that recent U.S. Supreme Court and Fourth Circuit precedents required her to uphold the law.
“[T]his Court, having given careful consideration to the preliminary injunction record, the limited evidence presented at trial, and the arguments of counsel, concludes that it is compelled by controlling case law to render Judgment in favor of the Defendants on both Plaintiffs’ Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment claim and Plaintiffs’ § 2 claim under the Voting Rights Act,” Biggs wrote.
The law was enacted in 2018 shortly after approximately 55% of North Carolina’s registered voters approved a constitutional amendment requiring a photo ID at the polls. The law mandates the use of one of several accepted forms of photo ID for in-person voting. Voters without an ID may cast a provisional ballot, which is counted only if they later provide valid identification.
The ruling followed a years-long legal and procedural battle that included a preliminary injunction in late 2019, the Fourth U.S. Circuit’s December 2020 decision lifting that injunction, a stay in the federal case while parallel state-court litigation unfolded, and a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing Republican lawmakers to intervene in the challenge, according to court documents.
Republican leaders celebrated the decision as a long-overdue affirmation of what they described as commonsense election security.
“Finally. After seven years, we can put to rest any doubt that our state’s Voter I.D. law is constitutional,” state Senate Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said in a March 26 statement, cited by The Carolina Journal. “This is a monumental win for the citizens of North Carolina and election integrity efforts.”
The ruling leaves the requirement in place for future elections, including the 2026 midterms.
The decision also comes as President Donald Trump has increasingly called for stricter voting standards nationwide. In recent months, Trump has urged Congress to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act, which would impose a nationwide requirement that people present a physical document proving U.S. citizenship when they register to vote. The House-passed bill, however, remains stalled in the Senate due to Democrats’ opposition
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