The American Civil rights Union filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Greater Birmingham Ministries v. Merrill, arguing that the appeals court should hold that Alabama’s voter-ID law is permitted by the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA). Challengers argue that Section 2 of the VRA forbids Alabama’s law, urging the court to adopt a test devised by another court that would give a very broad sweep to Section 2. Supporting the state in this case, ACRU argues that such an over-reading of Section 2 would render illegal all sorts of voting and election laws. The Constitution’s Fifteenth Amendment does not empower Congress to pass such a sweeping law, and the courts should instead follow the plain meaning of the VRA’s text, under which Alabama’s law is perfectly legal.
