WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Monday let stand a lower court's decision striking down Texas' tough voter ID law, handing voting rights advocates a victory that could prove fleeting.
Chief Justice John Roberts warned that the case could come back to the high court after further skirmishes at the federal district court level are completed. The Trump administration received a 30-day delay in the lower court case Friday amid speculation it may switch sides and defend the law.
A federal appeals court struck down the voter identification law as discriminatory in July, giving civil rights advocates a crucial victory in advance of the 2016 election. The 9-6 ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit was the third consecutive decision against the Texas law, which opponents claimed could have left up to 600,000 voters without proper ID.
The appeals court majority said the law was not intended to discriminate but had that effect on minority voters. It sent the case back to the district court to supervise changes that would allow the law to stand without discriminating.
Dissenting judges said the law was reasonable in both purpose and effect. "Requiring a voter to verify her identity with a photo ID at the polling place is a reasonable requirement widely supported by Texans of all races and members of the public belonging to both political parties," they said. The majority ruling "fans the flames of perniciously irresponsible racial name-calling."
The law was enacted in 2011, blocked by a federal district judge in 2012 and then put into effect in 2013, when the Supreme Court struck down a key part of the Voting Rights Act that had required Texas and some other states to get federal approval for voting changes. Challengers have won every court case since, but the law had remained in effect.
Source:-usatoday
Chief Justice John Roberts warned that the case could come back to the high court after further skirmishes at the federal district court level are completed. The Trump administration received a 30-day delay in the lower court case Friday amid speculation it may switch sides and defend the law.
A federal appeals court struck down the voter identification law as discriminatory in July, giving civil rights advocates a crucial victory in advance of the 2016 election. The 9-6 ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit was the third consecutive decision against the Texas law, which opponents claimed could have left up to 600,000 voters without proper ID.
The appeals court majority said the law was not intended to discriminate but had that effect on minority voters. It sent the case back to the district court to supervise changes that would allow the law to stand without discriminating.
Dissenting judges said the law was reasonable in both purpose and effect. "Requiring a voter to verify her identity with a photo ID at the polling place is a reasonable requirement widely supported by Texans of all races and members of the public belonging to both political parties," they said. The majority ruling "fans the flames of perniciously irresponsible racial name-calling."
The law was enacted in 2011, blocked by a federal district judge in 2012 and then put into effect in 2013, when the Supreme Court struck down a key part of the Voting Rights Act that had required Texas and some other states to get federal approval for voting changes. Challengers have won every court case since, but the law had remained in effect.
Source:-usatoday
