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PDFFrom Pennlive.com:
The moral outrage and national embarrassment over Pennsylvania’s strictest-in-the-nation voter identification law are well-deserved. But what’s most disturbing about this law is the fact that it’s a blatant abuse of power by the controlling party in Harrisburg — the Republicans — for purely partisan political gain.
The state Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments Thursday on whether to stop the voter ID law from taking effect this fall. While the justices should keep in mind the hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians likely to be disenfranchised by this law, they also should be mindful of their role as a constitutional check against abuses of power by the Legislature and the governor.
These six Supreme Court justices (the seventh has been suspended while she faces criminal charges) might be the only people who can stop this unconstitutional Republican power grab. The Supreme Court is evenly split politically — three Democrats and three Republicans. If the court’s voter ID decision ends in a 3-3 tie, the Commonwealth Court’s ruling would be upheld and voter ID would remain in effect for November’s elections.
That’s why all eyes will be on Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille. A Republican and former Philadelphia district attorney, Castille has been known to set party allegiances aside in his rulings. Most recently, he stunned political observers by throwing out the Pennsylvania Legislative Reapportionment Commission’s redrawn state House and Senate district maps.
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