Ketanji Brown Jackson Disagrees on SCOTUS Student ID Voting Decision

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only one to publicly oppose a Thursday ruling allowing New Hampshire to block the use of student ID cards in the upcoming midterm elections.

Other justices on the court cited longstanding precedent “that lower federal courts should not ordinarily change election rules on the eve of an election,” and said the lower courts had failed to argue that New Hampshire’s specific case warranted an exception to tradition. Jackson argued, however, that proximity to an election should not prevent the law from being properly enforced.

“I respectfully disagree because — even and perhaps especially when an election is approaching — I would not disrupt a clearly justifiable federal court order issued to ensure that the public receives accurate information about a state’s election processes,” she wrote.

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Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson gives a joint lecture in the ceremonial courtroom at the United States Courthouse in Washington, DC, March 9, 2026. (The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The underlying dispute stems from a law signed in April and taken effect in June, removing student ID cards from the list of IDs election officials can accept when an individual applies to vote. A voting rights group sued New Hampshire on the grounds that the law illegally discriminated against young voters by making it harder for them to vote.

New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan subsequently issued guidance stating that student ID cards could not be used to establish voters’ identities, even as supporting evidence under the state’s alternative verification procedures. A district judge blocked that part of the guidelines, arguing that it exceeded the scope of the law itself, which only removed student IDs from the list of expressly accepted forms of identification.

Among the supporters of these directions was the Republican National Committee.

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The Supreme Court will meet on Friday, February 20, 2026. (Annabelle Gordon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Although Jackson was the only public dissenter, it is possible that other justices also dissented but chose not to be named on the court order. During her four years on the Supreme Court, Jackson distanced herself from the rest of her colleagues in areas such as campaign finance, immigration and congressional map litigation.

In 2023, she was the only dissenter in an 8-1 decision allowing a concrete company to sue striking union workers. She also stood alone in a May 2026 decision involving federal prisoners seeking to challenge their convictions through compassionate release.

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Ketanji Brown Jackson attends the 2026 Recording Academy Honors presented by the Black Music Collective at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards on January 29, 2026, in Los Angeles, California. (Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for the Recording Academy)

New Hampshire has a handful of close races on Election Day, giving some weight to the court’s decision. Fox News power rankings list the state Senate race as leaning Democratic, meaning liberals have a slight edge in a race that could decide control of Congress. The state’s gubernatorial race, meanwhile, is seen as likely to go to the GOP.

Students are generally supportive of the Democratic Party, although it is unclear how many voters will be affected by the court’s decision because students who previously relied on their student ID will now need another form of accepted identification.

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Some Democrats, however, believe that allowing voters to use their student ID would be a good thing. Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico, for example, has pushed for such a thing in his state.