Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson pushed back Thursday after the Supreme Court blocked an order she said protected voters from misleading information about New Hampshire’s election rules.
The lone dissenter argued that her colleagues had misapplied a principle discouraging federal courts from changing voting rules close to an election.
“When a federal court determines that material misrepresentations are being made about a State’s election rules, an injunction to prohibit that conduct does not contribute to public confusion, it prevents that very problem,” Jackson wrote.
The ruling handed Republicans a victory by preventing student IDs from being considered as backup evidence of voters’ identities, NBC News reported.
A federal judge had ordered Republican Secretary of State David Scanlan to correct guidance that went beyond the state’s ban on student IDs as primary identification.
Jackson argued that the judge’s order “left the state election rule untouched” and instead addressed potentially misleading statements to voters and election workers.
“I respectfully dissent because—even, and perhaps especially, when an election is looming—I would not disturb a clearly justifiable federal-court order issued to ensure that the public receives accurate information about a State’s electoral processes,” the Biden appointee concluded Thursday.