Supreme Court says GOP lawmakers can intervene to defend North Carolina voter ID law

The Supreme Court said on Thursday that two Republican leaders of North Carolina’s legislature could step in to defend the state’s voter ID law even though the state’s attorney general, a Democrat, is already doing so.

The opinion will make it easier for other state government officials to intervene in some instances in lawsuits when the state government is divided.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion for an 8-1 court, with only Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissenting.

“Through the General Assembly, the people of North Carolina have authorized the leaders of their legislature to defend duly enacted state statutes against constitutional