A federal judge denied a preliminary injunction request from President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice on Wednesday after the administration sought to stop enforcement of the 2021 Georgia voting law they claim discriminates against black voters.
United States District Judge J.P. Boulee ruled the Department of Justice is unlikely to prove any of its claims at trial and denied the Biden administration’s request to pause portions of the law.
The Justice Department filed its lawsuit in May 2021, shortly after SB 202, Georgia’s Election Integrity Act, was signed by Governor Brian Kemp (R) in March. The state was named a defendant alongside Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) and the Georgia State Election Board.
Boulee, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, ruled on Wednesday that the Justice Department is unlikely to prove that decreased numbers of absentee ballot drop boxes will disparately harm black people, that limiting the amount of food and drink available to those waiting in line to vote “has a disparate impact on black voters,” that “black voters wait in longer lines at a meaningfully higher rate than white voters,” or that black voters will be disparately impacted by changing rules governing when absentee ballot applications should be returned.
While the administration has maintained Georgia’s law is inherently racist and discriminatory, Boulee seemed to directly contradict this by acknowledging SB 202 “also includes provisions and ideas that were typically supported by Democrats, including provisions that required more staff, equipment, and polling places in large precincts with long lines.”
The court also acknowledged a survey by the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs, which Atlanta News First reported “found that Georgia voters reported high levels of satisfaction” after voting in the 2022 election, including a 95.5 percent satisfaction rate among “black voters who reported no problem when voting.”
Raffensperger celebrated the court’s decision in a statement released Wednesday, saying the court “confirmed” the law “strengthens election integrity while increasing the opportunity for Georgia voters to cast a ballot.”
When SB 202 became law, Biden blasted it as an “atrocity” that represented “Jim Crow in the 21st century,” and public statements from major corporations followed the president’s denunciation.
Major League Baseball (MLB) moved its All-Star Game out of Atlanta, while Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian said the law “doesn’t match” his company’s “values,” and Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey called the law an “unacceptable” “step backwards” for Georgia.
Despite the highly publicized controversy over the law, Georgia set an all-time midterm early voting turnout record in 2022, reporting nearly 300,000 more voters than in the previous 2018 midterm elections.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Georgia Star News and a reporter for the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
