U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Revive North Carolina Voter-ID Law

By Greg Stohr, Bloomberg News

The U.S. Supreme Court dealt an unexpected setback to the voter-identification movement, refusing to reinstate North Carolina ballot restrictions that a lower court said target blacks “with almost surgical precision.”

Turning away the appeal pressed by state Republican leaders, the justices left intact a ruling that said the provisions were racially discriminatory in violation of federal voting-rights law. In addition to requiring people to show a photo ID, the North Carolina law reduced the number of early voting days and eliminated same-day registration and out-of- precinct voting.

In a statement that accompanied the court’s order ...