As most here have likely heard, the Fifth Circuit of Appeals--arguably the nation's most conservative federal court--has stayed the order of US District Judge Nelva Conzales Ramos, which struck down the state's voter ID law. Ramos rightly termed the law an "unconstitutional poll tax."
But the Fifth Circuit reinstated the law in the stated interest of "preserving the status quo." Not requiring a photo ID would require too much training for poll workers.
Pardon my "ahem."
"Status quo" means the way things are. The way things have been.
The way things have been in Texas are clear: you don't need a photo ID to cast a vote. That's the way it was in 2012, when Mitt Romney carried the state by 16 points. That's the way it was in 2008, when John McCain won the state by 12.
Implementing a voter ID law is not "status quo" for Texas. Implementing a photo ID law does require intensive, new training for Texas poll workers and will invite chaos to countless Lone Star precincts come election day.
What is most infuriating about this ruling is that Ramos hit the nail on the head regards the primary effect of the law: disenfranchising minorities. Stopping "voter fraud" has nothing to do with it. Hell, the lawyers arguing for the law told reporters that people without IDs should just vote absentee, the method of voting proven most susceptible to fraud.
The Fifth Circuit's stay order is a blow against fairness and equal treatment, based on self-evidently wrong arguments and is nakedly partisan, in that, three weeks before an election, it strongly benefits one major party.