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Madison — U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will likely try to get involved in litigation over Wisconsin's voter ID law now being considered by appeals judges in Chicago.

"We have already filed suit in Texas and North Carolina," President Barack Obama's attorney general recently told ABC News. "I expect that we are going to be filing in cases that are already in existence in Wisconsin, as well as in Ohio."

Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen is defending the voter ID law. In a statement, he said Holder should focus on immigration, not Wisconsin's voting requirements.

"If Mr. Holder honestly believes that laws ensuring even the most basic form of election integrity violate (the Voting Rights) Act, it wouldn't surprise me if the entire act was thrown out," his statement said.

Gov. Scott Walker and Republicans in the Legislature approved a law in 2011 that required voters to show photo ID at the polls. Four lawsuits — two in federal court and two in state court — quickly followed.

The voter ID requirement was in effect for just one election, a low-turnout primary in February 2012, before courts began to issue orders blocking the law. The Wisconsin Supreme Court is expected to decide the two state cases by next month.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman considered the two federal cases together, and in April he ruled the voter ID law violated the U.S. Constitution and federal Voting Rights Act. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals is now weighing those cases.

That court is not expected to decide the federal cases before the Nov. 4 election between Walker and Democrat Mary Burke, meaning the voter ID requirement likely will not be in effect for that race. Van Hollen will have to win all federal and state court challenges to reinstate the voter ID law.

The U.S. Department of Justice did not provide comment beyond what Holder told ABC News, but released a transcript of his comments at the request of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and others.

Last month, Holder appeared in a U.S. DOJ video that highlighted his concerns about Wisconsin's voter ID law.

"Laws such as those in Wisconsin would shrink, rather than expand, access to the franchise," Holder said in the video. "This is inconsistent, not only with our history but with our ideals as a nation — a nation founded on the principle that all citizens are entitled to equal opportunity, equal representation and equal rights."

Holder could try to intervene in the federal cases in Wisconsin, or he could attempt to file a friend-of-the-court brief spelling out the government's interest in the matter. Attempts to intervene in cases typically happen before trial judges, rather than at the appeals level.

Lester Pines, a Madison attorney involved in one of the state voter ID cases but not the federal cases, said the move by Holder would be significant.

"The judges will pay attention to what the (U.S.) Department of Justice will say," Pines said.