In a 6-to-3 ruling in one of the most eagerly awaited election-law cases in years, the court rejected arguments that Indiana's law, probably the strictest in the country, imposes unjustified burdens on people who are old, poor or members of minority groups and less likely to have driver's licenses or other acceptable forms of identification.
Justice John Paul Stevens, who announced the judgment of the court and wrote an opinion in which Chief John Roberts Jr. and Anthony Kennedy joined, alluded to — and brushed aside — complaints that the law benefits Republicans and works against. Democrats, whose ranks are more likely to include poor people or those in minority groups.
The justifications for the law "should not be disregarded simply because partisan interests may have provided one motivation for the votes of individual legislators," Stevens wrote.
Stevens and the two court members who joined him found that the Democrats and civil rights groups who attacked the law, seeking a declaration that it was unconstitutional on its face, had failed to meet the heavy burden required for such a "facial challenge" to prevail. Perhaps, they suggested, the outcome could be different in another voter-rights case, one in which a plaintiff could show that his or her rights had been violated.
Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito Jr. concurred in the judgment of the court, but went further in rejecting the plaintiffs' challenge. In an opinion by Scalia, the three justices said, "The law should be upheld because its overall burden is minimal and justified."