South Carolina now faces the choice of dropping the proposed change or asking a federal court in the District of Columbia to approve the law. Richard L. Hasen, an election law specialist at the University of California, Irvine, predicted on his Election Law Blog that the state would go to court, which could set up a “momentous” decision in the Supreme Court on whether a part of the Voting Rights Act that prevents states like South Carolina from changing their voting rules without federal permission is no longer constitutional. Gov. Nikki Haley denounced the decision, accusing the Obama administration of “bullying” the state.
“It is outrageous, and we plan to look at every possible option to get this terrible, clearly political decision overturned so we can protect the integrity of our electoral process and our 10th Amendment rights,” she said in a statement.