Supreme Court backs New Hampshire ban on student IDs in elections. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.
Court Backs State Law
The high court granted Secretary of State David Scanlan’s emergency request to pause a district court injunction that had blocked his April directive prohibiting student IDs as proof of identification for voter registration, absentee ballot requests, and voting. The order lets the directive take effect while the legal battle continues.
Governor Kelly Ayotte signed a law that bars student IDs, a measure championed by Republican State Representative Ross Berry, who said student IDs lack address verification, citizenship checks, and security features. Berry called them the weakest link in the election integrity framework.
The injunction was requested by left‑leaning groups, including the state League of Women Voters, which argued the law is unconstitutional and unnecessary. They said the ban creates an unnecessary burden on voters.
Scanlan asked the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals to stay Laplante’s order for the 2026 election; the panel rejected the request 2‑1 on Oct. 14, prompting the appeal to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court then took up the case.
The Court cited the Purcell principle, stating federal courts must not alter state election rules close to an election, and found no justification for deviating from that standard. It emphasized the need for finality before voting begins.
Jackson argued the order does not fall under Purcell because Laplante’s injunction merely required officials to correct public misstatements about the law, not to change the law itself, and thus promoted accurate voter information. She said the district court’s action was reasonably designed to prevent confusion, not to rewrite the statute.
The stay remains in effect pending the First Circuit’s decision and any timely petition for certiorari, and it ends if the petition is denied or the Court rules on the merits. Until then, the ban on student IDs remains blocked.
