A federal judge has upheld North Carolina’s photo voter ID law, setting aside claims by civil rights groups that discrimination against Black and Latino voters warrants striking it down. The decision is a significant win for Republican leaders who initially passed the law in 2018. The ID requirement didn’t get implemented until 2023 because of legal challenges. The NAACP could appeal the decision by Judge Loretta Biggs. Republicans argued the law is race-neutral and contains many more categories of qualifying IDs than was allowed in a 2013 voter ID law that was ultimately struck down. Thirty-six states have voter ID laws.

Legislation that would require proof of U.S. citizenship for new voters has become a rallying cry for President Donald Trump. The Senate has taken up the bill this week. It would require voters to provide proof of citizenship when they register and to present approved identification when they go to the polls, among other new rules. Federal law already requires that voters in national elections be U.S. citizens. But the legislation would lay out strict new requirements for voters to prove their status. The bill is not expected to pass the Senate because of unified Democratic opposition. But Trump is demanding that Republicans push ahead.

Congressional Republicans are pushing voting legislation that's backed by President Donald Trump and would require voters to produce documentary proof of citizenship in order to register for federal elections. Obtaining those records and paying for them may not be as easy as the bill’s promoters make it sound. There's a range of hurdles, including the time and money involved in getting birth certificates or passports. A University of Maryland study estimates that 21.3 million Americans who are eligible to vote don’t have documents to prove their citizenship or don't have easy access to them. The House-passed legislation is scheduled to come up next week in the Senate.

Alabama marked the 61st anniversary of a key event in the Civil Rights Movement, when state troopers attacked voting rights marchers in Selma. The violence on March 7, 1965, shocked the nation and galvanized support for the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The annual commemoration pays homage to those who fought to secure voting rights for Black Americans. But the celebrations in Selma this weekend came as the U.S. Supreme Court considers a case that could limit a provision of the landmark legislation. Democratic officeholders, civil rights leaders and tourists descended on the southern city to pay homage to the pivotal moment of the Civil Rights Movement and to issue calls to action.