The U.S. Supreme Court stopped Wisconsin’s voter ID law from taking effect in the November election in a one-page decision released Thursday evening.
Originally passed in 2011, a federal appeals court reinstated the law after a long legal battle. After several groups filed emergency petitions in federal courts, Justice Elena Kagan referred the matter to the full Court, which enjoined the decision to restore the law.
A spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union, which is challenging the law, said in a statement the decision removes hindrances to the voting process.
"Today's order puts the brakes on the last-minute disruption and voter chaos created by this law going into effect so close to the election," ACLU Voting Rights Project Director Dale Ho said in the statement. "It will help safeguard the vote for thousands of Wisconsinites as this case makes its way through the courts."
Conservative Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas admitted in their dissent “there is a colorable basis for the Court’s decision due to the proximity of the upcoming general election.” They added their concern that the court had no authority to block the law.
Government Accountability Board Director Kevin Kennedy said last month the GAB, responsible for overseeing Wisconsin's elections, was working to implement the law in time for the election and answering the concerns of absentee voters. The three dissenting justices said in the decision they shared those concerns.
"Clearly there was not enough time for election officials to educate voters, prepare new materials and implement the law in the short time before the November 4 election," the justices wrote.
Although it has placed an injunction on the law, the Court has not yet decided whether it will take up the case.
The news comes on the same day Kennedy announced the launch of a $460,800 campaign to educate voters of the photo ID requirement in the 24 days before the election.
University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Barry Burden said in an email the injunction will most likely remain in place before the Nov. 4 election.
"The Supreme Court will evaluate the law on the merits at a later date,” Burden wrote. “This is not a final decision. But for now the Court ruled quite definitively that the ID requirement cannot be put into place at such a late date."
