Many in North Carolina may begin their Monday morning assessing what, if any, obstacles were left behind by the winter storm that covered the state with snow and ice.
In a federal courtroom in Winston-Salem, U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder will open the work week to assess whether a very different obstacle exists — one that the NAACP, the U.S. Justice Department and many Democrats contend will have a chilling effect long after the melting of the snow and ice.
The trial over North Carolina’s voter ID law is set to begin Monday in front of Schroeder, a federal judge since 2008 who was appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush.