The American Mind

The Supreme Court ruled it was okay to require voters to show photo ID before casting a ballot. Yet Wisconsin Democrats still refuse to budge in their opposition:

In a 6-3 ruling, the high court said an Indiana law requiring voters to show photo IDs at the polls - one of the strictest ID laws in the country - was constitutional.

“Everything we have been calling for is constitutional,” said Rep. Jeff Stone (R-Greendale), who has pushed for a photo ID law in Wisconsin.

Stone and other Republicans said the Legislature should come into session to pass a constitutional amendment, but Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker (D-Weston) made clear that the Senate won’t vote on the matter this year.

“No one has proven to us we need to put more barriers up to have people vote,” he said.

Judging from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s editorial the newspaper thinks most people who want to vote are too dumb figure out how they would go about getting an ID. That’s an Obama-level of condescension. These leaders of the community want to turn a blind eye to the debasing of the ballot. They’re small-d democrats in name only.

What changes in Wisconsin? Nothing. Gov. Doyle won’t sign any photo ID bill, and a constitutional amendment isn’t going to pass the legislature anytime soon. The best we can hope for is elections that aren’t close enough for fraud to have any effect.

The biggest whiner was Rep. Gwen Moore who claimed the court was “turn[ing] back the clock and once again sanction[ing] the disenfranchisement of voters.” Justice John Paul Stevens, the most liberal member of the court, wrote the majority opinion. Moore needs to get a grip.

SCOTUSblog summarizes the ruling. [via Jonathan Adler]

“Voter ID Ruled Legal, but State Law on Hold”