The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday let New Hampshire enforce guidance barring student IDs as supporting evidence in a safety-valve identity check ahead of the midterms.
The justices’ unsigned order paused two preliminary injunctions entered by a federal district court on Oct. 2 and Oct. 5. The stay applies as the case proceeds in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and while any timely request for Supreme Court review is considered.
The dispute involves two parts of the state’s rules. HB 323 removed student IDs from the forms expressly accepted to obtain a ballot. New Hampshire Secretary of State David M. Scanlan’s guidance also barred election officials from considering student IDs as supporting evidence in a safety-valve identity check. The district court left the law in effect at the preliminary-injunction stage but blocked the guidance and directed Scanlan to issue revised guidance; it did not make a final ruling on the law’s constitutionality.
The Supreme Court said the district court had not explained why it should depart from the usual restraint on federal courts changing election rules close to voting. The order also cited a 2020 precedent involving election rules. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the only justice to publicly dissent, said the injunction addressed how the state publicly described its existing election rules.
The Supreme Court docket records an amicus brief supporting New Hampshire’s request from the Republican National Committee, submitted Oct. 16. The Associated Press reported that state Rep. Donald McFarlane, who introduced HB 323, argued that school credentials do not meet the same verification standard as government-issued identification. State election guidance describes a free photo ID for voting purposes only, available to voters without an approved photo ID.
The stay lets New Hampshire enforce the guidance for now. Students who would rely on a school ID as supporting evidence lose that option while the case proceeds. The stay lasts through the First Circuit appeal and any timely petition asking the Supreme Court to hear the case.
