A federal judge has upheld North Carolina’s photo voter ID law, rejecting claims by civil rights groups that discrimination against Black and Latino voters warrants striking it down. The decision is a significant win for Republican leaders who initially passed the law in 2018. The law didn’t get implemented until 2023 because of legal challenges. The NAACP could appeal the decision by Judge Loretta Biggs. Republicans argued the law is race-neutral and contains many more categories of qualifying IDs than was allowed in a 2013 voter ID law that was ultimately struck down. Thirty-six states have voter ID laws.