Story highlights North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory is asking for an appeal

He calls the law "common sense"

(CNN) North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory asked the Supreme Court Monday night to freeze parts of a federal appeals court opinion from last month that struck key provisions of an omnibus election law and held that the law had been enacted with racially discriminatory intent.

"We have asked Chief Justice John Roberts to stay the Fourth Circuit's ruling and reinstate North Carolina's Voter ID law," said McCrory in a statement.

McCrory said the "common sense law" -- that includes a provision on Voter ID --"has been cited as a model and other states are using similar laws without challenges."

The emergency request -- directed to Roberts because he has jurisdiction over the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals -- comes more than two weeks after the appellate court issued a sweeping ruling in favor of challengers to the law. This unusual delay for an emergency request was most likely caused by the fact that the state has chosen to hire one of the best Supreme Court advocates in the country, former Solicitor General Paul Clement, to handle the appeal.

The North Carolina ruling, issued on July 29, was one of several victories in the last few weeks for challengers of voting restriction laws passed by Republican-led legislatures. For the most part, the courts are dealing with such challenges several months before the election because the Supreme Court has signaled that it does not like courts to make changes to voting laws too close to an election.

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