This will be appealed to the state supreme court but at least one legal observer believes that this decision will stand. The PA supreme court has six judges, divided evenly between Dems and Rs. (Think Progress is hopefully noncommittal.)
That this law was upheld is likely now to have a domino effect that allows all such efforts to disenfranchise and limit voting for partisan political purposes to go forward. This monied party takeover that decides who can vote and who can't--which in effect this law does--is a basic threat to American representative democracy. It's frightening. It's clearly a step toward dictatorship by the oligarchy, to American fascism. Pennsylvania gets a taste of it now.
But though democracy in Pennsylvania is now wounded it is not dead. A concerted effort must be made to defy the intent of this law by registering the voters it is supposed to disenfranchise, and delivering the votes it is intended to suppress. It's time for those billionaires and millionaires out there who actually care more about democracy and their country than they do their fortunes to pony up the money necessary to really see to it that all these people get what they need to be able to vote, and get to the polls. Because make no mistake about it--democracy is under siege in Pennsylvania, and now the only way to break it is to make this attempt to take over the U.S. government futile.
Ironic that this decision comes on a day in which the Romney campaign is trying to inflame political and racial feelings further by concentrating on a Joe Biden line noting that to unchain the banks again would be to put the people back in chains. It's a metaphor that applies to all. But go ahead and apply it to people of color who were enslaved--their chains were finally broken when they got the right to vote. Now look what's happening.
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