On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled against North Carolina's voter identification law, deciding unanimously that the "North Carolina General Assembly enacted the challenged provisions of the law with discriminatory intent." Judge Diana Gribbon Motz wrote the opinion, which is yet another victory for civil rights and voting rights groups; the court also struck down changes the state made in 2013 to restrict early voting.
The decision noted the "new provisions target African-Americans with almost surgical precision," and as a result the restrictions on voting and registration "disproportionately affected African-Americans." "'In essence, the State took away [minority voters'] opportunity because [they] were about to exercise it,'" the decision read, quoting the case League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry.
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