The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals began hearing a case Tuesday on the legality of the Texas voter ID law. It’s viewed as the most restrictive such law in the nation and the circuit court’s ruling could have impacts well beyond the Lone Star state.
Jim Malewitz reports at The Texas Tribune that Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller argued before all 15 judges of the circuit court that lower courts were wrong to say the 2011 law discriminates against people of color and low-income voters :
If those rulings are left as written, “all voting laws could be in jeopardy,” Keller said before a packed courtroom that included his boss, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Lawyers representing the U.S. Department of Justice, minority groups and other plaintiffs disagreed, asking the judges to affirm what a lower court — and a three-judge panel in this same courthouse — previously concluded: that Senate Bill 14 has a "discriminatory effect” on Hispanic, African-American and other would-be voters in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
Before the Supreme Court wrecked the Voting Rights Act with the Shelby ruling in 2013, Texas had sent the law to the Department of Justice for approval. Under the VRA, several states and some jurisdictions within states that had a history of discriminating at the polls against blacks, Latinos and/or American Indians had to “pre-clear” any major changes in their voting procedures with the feds. The DOJ rejected the proposed law. But before Texas officials could submit revisions, the Shelby ruling was announced, ending the pre-clearance requirement. Texas quickly imposed the voter ID law.
To prove how twisted it is: If all you have is a college student ID, that’s not acceptable for voting. But if you’re a college student with a gun permit, they will happily give the nod to that and let you cast your ballot.
Sari Horwitz reports:
Supporters say that everyone should easily be able to get a photo ID and that the requirement is needed to combat voter fraud. But many election experts say that the process for obtaining a photo ID can be far more difficult than it looks for hundreds of thousands of people across the country who do not have the required photo identification cards. Those most likely to be affected are elderly citizens, African Americans, Hispanics and low-income residents.
“A lot of people don’t realize what it takes to obtain an ID without the proper identification and papers,” said Abbie Kamin, a lawyer who has worked with the Campaign Legal Center to help Texans obtain the proper identification to vote. “Many people will give up and not even bother trying to vote.”
Backers of these voter ID laws claim they make perfect sense, and since everyone must show ID for other purposes there should be no opposition. Foes say, however, the new laws are specifically designed to curtail Democratic votes, something supporters say is bunk.
But in another court in Wisconsin last Monday, Todd Allbaugh, a former top aide to a Republican state senator, reiterated in testimony in federal court what he had said publicly but not under oath previously. At a meeting to discuss imposing a strict ID law in the state, Allbaugh said a state senator supported the requirement because it would win elections for GOP candidates. Allbaugh said other Republican lawmakers at the meeting seemed “giddy” at the prospect of damaging Democrats at the polls with their restrictive proposal. Other Republicans in other states have made similar remarks.
How the Fifth Circuit will rule in Texas is anyone’s guess. But there is good reason to believe it will uphold the voter ID law. The court is widely viewed as the most conservative and activist of the circuit courts, with 10 of its 15 active judges having been appointed by Ronald Reagan or one of the two Bushes.