More Missouri Voter ID Litigation
A state judge in Missouri heard argument today on a motion to stop the state's newly enacted photo identification law from going into effect. The AP has this report and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch this one. Papers from the two cases pending in state court are available here.

According to the Post-Dispatch report, Cole County Circuit Judge Richard Callahanwas skeptical of plaintiffs' claim that the law purposefully discriminated or was an impermissible unfunded mandate, but sounded a bit more receptive to the argument comparing the photo ID law to a poll tax:

He asked whether the extra cost could be considered payment of a fee to vote under the U.S. Supreme Court's 1966 decision outlawing Virginia's poll tax.

Assistant Attorney General Ryan Harding said it was not a fee to vote because "there are all sorts of situations where you need a photo ID." He listed boarding an airplane and cashing a check as examples."

Are those constitutional rights?" Callahan asked rhetorically.

A ruling is expected by the end of next week.

Meanwhile, another case challenging Missouri's voter ID was filed today in a federal district court in Jefferson City, on behalf of the NAACP and groups representing disabled voters. While I've not yet seen the complaint, this case presumably raises federal constitutional claims similar to those raised (successfully) in the Georgia ID litigation and (unsucessfully) in the Indiana ID litigation.

UPDATE: The federal complaint in NAACP v. Carnahan may be found here. - posted by Dan Tokaji @ 11:56 PM