Los Angeles officials warn they cannot verify voter citizenship
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli examines the growing dispute over voter eligibility verification in California. Los Angeles County election officials acknowledge they lack the resources to verify the citizenship status of registered voters, and Essayli argues this loophole undermines election integrity and demands immediate state action to secure the voting process.
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Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the lone public dissenter in a Thursday decision allowing New Hampshire to block the use of student ID cards in the upcoming midterm elections.
Other justices on the court cited the longstanding precedent “that lower federal courts should ordinarily not alter the election rules on the eve of an election,” and said that lower courts failed to argue that the specific case in New Hampshire warranted an exception to the tradition. Jackson, however, argued the proximity to an election should not get in the way of properly applying the law.
“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,” she wrote.
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Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson gives a joint lecture at the Ceremonial Courtroom at the U.S. Courthouse in Washington, D.C., on March 9, 2026. (The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The underlying dispute stems from a law signed in April that went into effect in June, striking student ID cards from the list of forms of identification that election officials can accept when an individual requests a ballot. A voting rights group sued New Hampshire on the grounds that the law illegally discriminated against young voters by making it more difficult for them to vote.
New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan then issued guidance saying that student IDs could not be used to establish voter identity, even as supporting evidence under the state’s alternative verification procedures. A district judge blocked that portion of the guidance, arguing that it went beyond the scope of the law itself, which only removed student IDs from the list of expressly accepted forms of identification.
Among the supporters of the guidance was the Republican National Committee.
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The Supreme Court is seen on Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (Annabelle Gordon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
While Jackson was the lone public dissenter, it is possible that other justices dissented as well, but opted not to be named on the court order. During her roughly four years on the Supreme Court, Jackson has broken from the rest of her colleagues in areas such as campaign finance, immigration and congressional map litigation.
In 2023, she was the lone dissenter in an 8-1 ruling allowing a concrete company to sue striking union workers. She also stood alone in a May 2026 decision involving federal prisoners seeking to challenge their convictions through compassionate release.
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Ketanji Brown Jackson attends the 2026 Recording Academy Honors presented by The Black Music Collective during the 68th GRAMMY Awards on January 29, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
New Hampshire is holding a handful of close races on Election Day, putting some weight behind the court’s decision. Fox News’ power rankings rate the state’s Senate race as leans Democratic, meaning that liberals have a slight advantage in a race that could decide control of Congress. The state’s governor’s race, meanwhile, is rated as likely going to the GOP.
College students typically favor the Democratic Party, though it is unclear how many voters will be affected by the court ruling, as students who previously relied on their student IDs will now need another accepted form of identification.
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Some Democrats, however, believe allowing voters to use student IDs would be a good thing. Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico, for instance, has pushed for such a thing in his state.