Corbett doesn’t rule out possibility of appealing voter ID ruling

While Gov. Tom Corbett says he doesn’t agree with a judge’s ruling to block the implementation of voter ID in the upcoming election, appealing the decision would mean hanging his hopes on Pennsylvania’s highest court.

The governor has been on the fence about whether the state will appeal the voter ID ruling.

An appeal to have the law fully enforced in the November election would go to the state Supreme Court — again — and Corbett says the high court may be too divided on the issue.

“The Supreme Court already … they punted once in sending it back,” he said Wednesday. “And if it goes back there, does it end up in a three-three vote, which would uphold it, so we have to look at the likelihood, also.”

He made his remarks on the Radio Pennsylvania show, “Ask the Governor.”

The Supreme Court is down a justice, who is suspended as she fights corruption charges.

If the three Republicans and three Democrats on the bench were to reach a split opinion on an appeal, the most recent ruling not to enforce the law in November would be affirmed.

The justices are meeting in mid-October in Pittsburgh, and challengers say the court could hear any potential appeal then — just three weeks before the election.