Voting rights expert Pamela Karlan comments on the Supreme Court's grant of a case that considers the constitutionality of requiring voter ID:

The Supreme Court announced today that they’ve agreed to decide a case that could become one of the court’s marquee rulings next term. At issue: Whether a Voter ID law unfairly deters the poor and minorities from voting. The justices will hear arguments debating the consititutionality of an Indiana law requiring Hoosiers to present photo ID before voting.

Indiana and other states have defended these laws as a way to combat voter fraud. Election law experts had urged the court to take the Indiana case to instruct courts on how to weigh claims of voter fraud versus those of disenfranchisement in the 2008 election. Said Stanford Law professor Pamela Karlan: “The court better resolve this question before ballots start getting counted.”