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Attorney vows challenge if Mo. enacts voter ID law

The Missouri State Capitol building in Jefferson City, Mo. (Marshall Griffin/St. Louis Public Radio)
The Missouri State Capitol building in Jefferson City, Mo. (Marshall Griffin/St. Louis Public Radio)

An attorney who successfully challengedMissouri's photo ID law for votersin 2006 plans a new legal argument if the requirement is revived.

St. Louis attorney Burt Newman testified Monday before a state Senate committee that is considering a proposed constitutional amendment reviving a photo identification requirement for voting.

The new proposal from Republican lawmakers would appear on the November 2012 ballot.

Newman pledged he would challenge it in court. He said the Missouri Supreme Court affirmed that voting was a fundamental right while striking down the 2006 photo ID law. Newman's new argument is that the Missouri Constitution forbids retroactive infringements on fundamental rights - so that a photo ID could not be required of people already registered to vote.