US Supreme Court won't revive Kansas voter ID law

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The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review an appeal from Kansas seeking to reinstate voter identification laws which a federal appeals court had declared unconstitutional earlier this year.  

Kansas had been the only state to require people to show a physical document such as a birth certificate or passport when applying to register to vote. The issue is distinct from state laws that call for people to produce driver licenses or other photo IDs to cast a vote in person.

FILE: The Supreme Court in Washington.  (AP)

The law was championed by former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who led President Donald Trump's now-defunct voter fraud commission. Kobach was a leading source for Trump's unsubstantiated claim that millions of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally may have voted in the 2016 election.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declared the law unconstitutional in April, affirming a trial court ruling. Justice Neil Gorsuch, who used to be a 10th circuit judge, sat out the Supreme Court's consideration of the case.

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Roughly 30,000 people were prevented from registering to vote during the three years the law was in effect, and the state's own expert estimated that almost all of those were U.S. citizens who were eligible to vote.

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Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab, who supported the law when he was in the state legislature, pursued the Supreme Court appeal over the objection of Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.