The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld two voting laws in Arizona passed to ensure election integrity.
The court ruled 6-3 for the Republican-passed legislation, saying that the bills do not violate the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
The court’s three liberal justices dissented.
The ruling validated a provision restricting early ballot collection by third parties, also called “ballot harvesting,” and another that discards ballots cast in-person at the wrong precinct, reversing a lower court ruling that said the measures would be racially discriminatory.
The federal appeals court in San Francisco said the measures would adversely affect black, Hispanic, and Native American voters.
The Supreme Court decision is a victory for the Arizona Republican Party and Attorney General Mark Brnovich, which appealed the decision, and a setback for the Democratic Party, which challenged the provisions.
Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority, addressed how courts can examine claims of voting discrimination.
The “mere fact there is some disparity in impact does not necessarily mean that a system is not equally open or that it does not give everyone an equal opportunity to vote,” Alito said.
In her dissent, Justice Elena Kagan said the court continues to undermine voting rights after it diluted the 1965 Voting Rights Act eight years ago.
“What is tragic here is that the Court has (yet again) rewritten — in order to weaken — a statute that stands as a monument to America’s greatness, and protects against its basest impulses. What is tragic is that the Court has damaged a statute designed to bring about ‘the end of discrimination in voting.’ I respectfully dissent,” Kagan wrote.
She was joined in the dissent by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer.
The court’s decision comes amid an effort by Republican-led states to pass new voting laws intended to protect against fraud following the 2020 presidential race.
At the same time, Democratic senators are considering shelving the filibuster to ram the For the People Act through the narrowly divided 50-50 chamber with a simple majority vote.
Last week, Republican senators blocked the legislation by denying the 60 votes needed to begin debate on the issue.
Republicans say the act would allow the federal government to usurp the role states play in conducting their elections.
With Post wires