Jackson Dissents as Supreme Court Lets New Hampshire Block Student IDs

The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed New Hampshire to block student ID cards from being used in the upcoming midterm elections. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only justice to publicly dissent. The court's other justices pointed to a longstanding precedent that lower federal courts should generally not change election rules so close to an election.

Jackson pushed back, writing that the proximity to an election should not stop a clearly justifiable federal-court order from being applied. She said she would not disturb an order meant to ensure the public gets accurate information about the state's electoral processes. She was the lone public dissenter, though other justices may have dissented privately without being named on the order, according to The Hill.

The fight stems from a New Hampshire law signed in April and effective in June that removed student ID cards from the list of accepted voter identification. A voting rights group sued the state, arguing the law discriminated against young voters by making it harder for them to vote. New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan then issued guidance saying student IDs could not be used to establish voter identity, even as supporting evidence under the state's alternative verification procedures.

A district judge blocked that part of the guidance, saying it exceeded the scope of the law, which only removed student IDs from the expressly accepted list. The Republican National Committee supported the guidance.

Jackson has repeatedly broken from her colleagues during her roughly four years on the Supreme Court, including on campaign finance, immigration, and congressional map litigation. In 2023, she stood alone in an 8-1 decision that let a concrete company sue striking union workers. She was also the sole dissenter in a May 2026 ruling about federal prisoners trying to challenge their convictions via compassionate release.

New Hampshire has several close races on Election Day, and Fox News' power rankings rate the Senate race as leans Democratic and the governor's race as likely GOP. College students typically favor Democrats, but it's unclear how many voters will be affected since students who used student IDs must now find another accepted form of identification. Some Democrats, like Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico, have pushed for allowing student IDs in their states.