The North Carolina Supreme Court heard an appeal Monday of a lower court ruling that struck down a mostly Republican-backed statute requiring voters to present photo ID at the polls.
The 2018 law was drafted after a majority of North Carolina voters approved a constitutional amendment requiring photo ID.
Republicans then pushed through enabling legislation during a post-election lame-duck session while they still had numbers to override a veto.
A trial court found they ignored evidence that Black voters were more likely than white voters to lack requisite ID. The lower court ruled the measure was much like a 2013 GOP-crafted voting law found to be unconstitutional and discriminatory.
But Pete Patterson, attorney for the legislative defendants, argued the newer law greatly expanded the list of acceptable IDs.
"You can't presume bad faith on the basis of a past discriminatory act."
For now, at least, there still is NO photo ID requirement for voters in North Carolina.