The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld voting restrictions in Arizona in a 6-3 decision that could make it harder for liberals to overturn voting measures put in place in other states by Republican lawmakers after last year's elections.
The court reversed a lower court ruling on two provisions of Arizona's voting law that were approved years before the polarizing 2020 presidential election. State officials passed a law in 2016 barring unions and advocacy organizations from collecting voters' mail-in ballots, a practice that critics call "ballot harvesting."
Associate Justice Samuel Alito, joined by the court's conservatives, wrote the opinion reversing the ruling by the Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Alito wrote that voting in Arizona is "equally open" to all eligible voters and that "mere inconvenience cannot be enough to demonstrate a violation" of the Voting Rights Act.
Associate Justice Elena Kagan wrote a dissent and was joined by the liberal judges.
The lower court had held that the measures disproportionately affected Black, Hispanic, and Native American voters in violation of the landmark Voting Rights Act.
The Biden administration submitted an unusual letter to the Supreme Court in February, asserting that Arizona's laws appeared to be legal. But Biden's Justice Department also said it was backing away from the Trump administration's more conservative view of how and when the Voting Rights Act can be used to challenge a state election law.
This report contains material from Newsmax wire services.
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