Scott Walker Back at Appellate Court Asking for Photo ID Law Okay; Panel Includes Two Rightwing Judicial Activists

Update III: Oral arguments are up online; 14-2058  Ruthelle Frank v. Scott Walker.

Three-judge Appellate Panel Includes Two Rightwing Activist Judges

Update II: Orals online this afternoon on Court site. (14-2058, 14-2059)

Update - Rick Hasen points out that two of the panel voted for Crawford in a highly qualified FYI.

A desperate Scott Walker administration is back in federal appellate court asking a judicial panel to halt (stay) U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman's permanent injunction against Wisconsin's Voter Law which remains unenforceable under a federal court order.

The cases to argued are Ruthelle Frank v. Scott Walker and LULAC v. Deininger (14-2058, 14-2059) consolidated for appeal with the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

The panel hearing the cases is composed of Judges Frank Easterbrook, Diane Sykes (rightwing activist appointed by W. Bush). and John Tinder (rightwing activist appointed by W. Bush).

Walker filed for an expedited motion on August 5 to stay Judge Adelman's ruling, hoping that the photo voter ID law could be put into place to obstruct non-GOP-voting segments of the Wisconsin population for the November general election.

"The court will reserve decision on appellantʹs (Scott Walker and Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen (R)) motion to stay the permanent injunction until after oral argument on September 12, 2014," announced the appellate court on August 21.

Walker's attorneys working today to implement the GOP-passed photo voter ID law in the face of no evidence of photo impersonation and a mountain of evidence presented at federal trial last year demonstrating potentially 100,000s of Wisconsin citizens would be deprived of their right to vote is incredible and brash just 53 days out from Election Day.

The August 21 order also stated the Walker administration is free to implement the portion of the Wisconsin Supreme Court's vague order that the state DMV exercise discretion for persons who cannot afford the often substantial costs of obtaining birth certificates and other documents.

It would be extraordinary for the panel to stay Judge Adelman's injunction under two months before Election Day but Walker and Wisconsin Republicans bid for a long-shot ruling after implementing the discretionary cost-free order for supporting documentation to obtain free photo voter IDs has some pro-voting rights activists nervous.