Seven years. That's how long Republicans in North Carolina waited for a federal court to do the right thing. On Thursday, they finally got their answer — and it came from the last place anyone expected.
U.S. District Judge Loretta Biggs, an Obama appointee, upheld North Carolina's photo voter ID law in a sweeping 134-page ruling. She found that liberal voting rights groups, including the state NAACP, failed to prove the 2018 law violated the 14th Amendment, the 15th Amendment, or the Voting Rights Act. The ruling keeps the law firmly in place heading into the 2026 midterms — and hands Republicans a significant win on election integrity.
In 2018, 55% of North Carolina voters approved a constitutional amendment requiring photo ID at the polls. The legislature then passed it, and it became law. The bill is thorough and accounts for every silly excuse Democrats make against Voter ID: Free photo IDs are available at county election offices and the DMV. Accepted forms include a driver's license, military ID, or U.S. passport. Voters without ID can fill out an exception form for a provisional ballot or bring their ID in before certification. The accommodations are extensive.
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Now, we all know there’s nothing discriminatory about Voter ID, but that’s the narrative that the left has long been pushing, and, for the most part, liberal judges have been striking down commonsense Voter ID laws for years. So, when I learned that an Obama judge actually made this ruling, I was pleasantly surprised. It’s not every day that an Obama-appointed judge rules for common-sense election integrity.
"Finally. After seven years, we can put to rest any doubt that our state's Voter ID law is constitutional," Republican state Sen. Phil Berger said.
Of course, even though the Obama judge kept the law in place, she still buys into the far left’s narrative.
Biggs emphasized in her 134-page decision that North Carolina had a "history of extensive official discrimination against African Americans" that was undisputed by parties in the case. The judge said she found evidence that the voter ID law served to disenfranchise Black and Latino voters but that precedents set by higher courts meant the evidence was not enough to invalidate the law.
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The decision marked a reversal for Biggs after she issued a preliminary injunction in December 2019 that blocked the state from enforcing the voter ID law for the 2020 election cycle. In that opinion, she cited the state’s "sordid history of racial discrimination and voter suppression," arguing that parts of the law were "impermissibly motivated, at least in part, by discriminatory intent."
The timing of this ruling is also significant.
As you all know, President Donald Trump has been pushing hard for the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and a photo ID to cast a ballot in a federal election. Democrats, led by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, are in a small minority of people who oppose it. Seriously, multiple polls show widespread support that transcends party and racial lines.
So, this is not just a major legal victory for Voter ID; it’s a symbolic victory in the quest for secure elections.
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