A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Texas’s voter identification law can move forward for the 2014 election, halting a ruling by a trial judge who struck down the law as unconstitutional on Thursday.
“This is not a run-of-the-mill case; instead, it is a voting case decided on the eve of the election. The judgment below substantially disturbs the election process of the State of Texas just nine days before early voting begins. Thus, the value of preserving the status quo here is much higher than in most other contexts,” Judge Edith Brown Clement wrote on behalf of a three-judge panel on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The case has yet to be heard on the merits at the 5th Circuit, which leans conservative. It may eventually reach the Supreme Court.
The lawsuit is a test case for states’ freedom to enact restrictive voting laws in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling to curtail the Voting Rights Act.
Edith Brown Clement is a first class right wing nut job. Her rulings are often ridiculous. The 3 judge panels are notorious.
Wait. Is that the smell of the right-wing trying to keep the disfranchised and minorities from voting?
There it is. Don’t expect SCOTUS to reverse this either. Step 1 was to say that discriminatory intent must be proven. Step 2 will be to say that discriminatory intent is impossible to prove.
[Edit: I was too quick on the draw. The case hasn’t been heard on its merits yet. But my prediction for the future still stands.]
Interesting that the risk of actually disenfranchising voters is less of a concern than the risk of disrupting the abstract notion of a status quo.
Step 3. Per Justice Roberts, there is no racism.
[quote=“hora_del_cafe, post:5, topic:11656, full:true”]
Step 3. Per Justice Roberts, there is no discrimination.
[/quote] Iirc Roberts said that there is no “racism”.