Marty Lederman has brought to my attention this very interesting student note in the Harvard Law Review on the 7th Circuit voter id case. I’ve only had a chance to glance at this note, but it uses the debate between Rick Pildes and me (see Bad Legislative Intent in the Wisconsin Law Review) to argue that the courts should strike down Indiana’s voter id law because it was passed with a partisan entrenching intent. I too am skeptical of Crawford (see this forthcoming Stanford Law Review article and this commentary), but I would use the effects test to reach this result. The place where I differ with the thoughtful student author of the Harvard piece (and with Rick Pildes, who kindly sent me comments on my Stanford article) is over whether there’s enough empirical evidence on the amount of polling place voter fraud (and on the burdens of the law) to decide this question without turning to legislative motive.
Go read the student piece. It is only 8 pages and it is very good.