by Ty Tagami | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — A federal appeals court has restored a state ban on giving food and drink to people waiting in line to vote.
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta on Monday cancelled a preliminary injunction issued by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia two years ago that stopped the state from enforcing its ban on giving “gifts” near polling places.
The three-judge appellate panel decided that a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in another case last year had changed the legal landscape for such decisions. The high court ruled in that case that lower courts had failed to fully analyze whether state content-moderation restrictions on social media companies violated the First Amendment.
The defendant in that case — Moody v. NetChoice, LLC — was an industry association for internet companies, but the same analysis applies in a case about regulating elections, the appeals court in Atlanta decided.
“The district court didn’t conduct the facial-challenge analysis now required by Moody,” the Eleventh Circuit Court opinion said. It said the district court had “failed to systematically assess the full sweep of the regulation and weigh the constitutional against the unconstitutional applications.”
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican running for governor, applauded the decision, issuing a statement that said it “reinforces a simple truth: Georgia has the right and the responsibility to shield voters from influence and interference at the polls.”
The GOP-controlled General Assembly passed the gifts ban in 2021, as part of an elections overhaul in the wake of claims by Donald Trump that the 2020 election had been stolen from him.
Senate Bill 202 affected absentee voting and other election procedures, but one element in particular gained national attention: the ban on giving voters “any money or gifts, including, but not limited to, food and drink” while in line at polling places.
Civil rights groups sued, calling the ban a barrier to voting. The U.S. Department of Justice under President Joe Biden sued, asserting the law violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act by intentionally discriminating against Black voters.
Then, President Donald Trump started his second term and named Pam Bondi U.S. Attorney General. In March, she ordered the Justice Department to drop the lawsuit.
The appeals court order on Monday returns the case to the district court in Atlanta, where U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee has been overseeing the lawsuits and motions related to the 2021 law.
