Federal Judge Tosses Out Texas Voter ID Law As Unconstitutional, Voting Rights Act Violation

AUSTIN, TX — A federal judge tossed out the state's controversial Voter ID law on Wednesday—legislation requiring residents to show a government-issued ID in order to cast their ballots—labeling it as unconstitutional and a violation of the Voting Rights Act.

It's the latest blow for Republicans controlling the state government who've long fought for the restrictive measures placed as conditions on people wanting to exercise their right to vote. The current law calling for possession of one of seven forms of government identification—including a handgun license—as a condition to vote was tossed out by U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Campos of Corpus Christi.

The ruling also grants a permanent injunction against Texas’ voter ID law (Senate Bill 14) with a companion injunction against Senate Bill 5, the revised voter ID law passed during the recent regular session of the Legislature to comply with the 5th Circuit’s prior ruling.

See Also: Texas' Long Legal Battle Over Its Voter ID Law Hits Another Snag

Attorney General Ken Paxton was not happy at the decision, and has vowed to appeal the ruling.

“Today’s ruling is outrageous," Paxton said in a prepared statement. "Senate Bill 5 was passed by the people’s representatives and includes all the changes to the Texas voter ID law requested by the 5th Circuit. The U.S. Department of Justice is satisfied that the amended voter ID law has no discriminatory purpose or effect."

As he has done in the past, Paxton posited the state's stringent Voter ID law—considered one of the nation's most draconian—as a measure meant to protect the integrity of the voter process by safeguarding against election fraud: "Safeguarding the integrity of elections in Texas is essential to preserving our democracy," Paxton said. "The 5th Circuit should reverse the entirety of the district court’s ruling.”

But several studies have concluded that voter fraud in Texas is negligible, a reality for which GOP lawmakers have never made allowances in the machinations of their law crafting. Instead, countless critics view the restrictive voting requirements as an intentional attempt to limit or dissuade the minority vote. As one bit of evidence in this argument, critics point to the acceptance of a gun license, a bit of documentation statistically more likely to be carried by conservative voters.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals previously upheld Ramos' earlier ruling from last year assessing the state's voter ID law as discriminatory against minorities and low-income voters lacking one of the outlined forms of government-issued identification. Wednesday's ruling dealt a setback to a more relaxed version of the original 2011 Voter ID law that also was rejected.

Like civil rights organizations and others who sued the state in 2013 over the law, Ramos agreed in her ruling the restrictive law was nothing more than a "pretext" to suppress certain voting blocs historically voting Democratic.

It's the second time in just over one week that a court has ruled against Texas on an issue related to voting. Last Tuesday, a federal court on Tuesday ruled that Texas cannot use its current voter maps in the upcoming congressional midterm elections because they illegally discriminate against minority voters. Ruled to be biased against minorities, the congressional maps were voided by the judges' panel as a result. (See: Court Voids Texas Congressional Maps, Calling Them Biased Against Minorities, Aug. 15).

To view the full ruling from Wednesday, click here.

State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, who serves as policy chair of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus—the oldest and largest Latino legislative caucus in the nation—applauded the judge's decision. MALC has been a co-plaintiff in the challenge against SB 14 since 2013.

“The state’s ploy has failed," Rodriguez said in a prepared statement. "No longer will the federal judiciary entertain AG Ken Paxton’s hollow arguments in defense of Texas’s discriminatory voter ID laws."

Rodriguez categorized Wednesday's ruling as momentous: “This ruling is historic," he said. "Since the beginning of this decade, MALC has been at the forefront of fighting the sinister attempts at voter suppression that have sprung up around the country. I am proud to have played a role in fighting for Texans’ voting rights with MALC’s executive committee and former Chairman Trey Martinez Fischer."

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