A federal judge in Corpus Christi has ruled that not only is the Texas Voter ID law discriminatory, it is 'intentionally discriminatory,' and cannot be enforced, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
In a scathing ruling, U.S. District Judge Nelda Gonzalez Ramos ruled that the law was written specifically by the state's Republican majority to blunt the political impact of the growing electoral power of the state's minority population.In addition, she hinted that she may order Texas to again seek 'preclearence' from the U.S. Justice Department before making any changes in election law due to what she determined was a pattern of discrimination seen in the Voter ID law.
The preclearence requirement was dropped by the U.S. Supreme Court's rewrite of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which is what prompted the Republican Legisature to approve the Voter ID bill, which was the strongest in the country
."We cannot afford to allow politically-motivated majorities in the Legislature to disregard the Constitution and pass discriminatory legislation, leaving civil rights advocates to fight uphill battles for years against the taxpayer-funded Texas Attorney General's Office for any chance at recourse," State Rep. Eddie Gonzalez, the head of the Mexican American Legislslative Caucus, said of the ruling.
Texas Repubicians say the law is needed to fight 'voter impersonation fraud,' but Ramos said there is 'scant connection' between the terms of the Voter ID law, which require a voter to submit one of seven specific types of government issued photo ID to vote, and any effort to fight voter fraud.
The law was softened in time for last fall's election, but that prompted Republicans to complain of renewed voter fraud. In fact, an independent investigation revealed hundreds of cases where voters refused to show any type of ID or were unable to provide ID, but were allowed to vote anyway.
An appeal of the judge's ruling is likely to succeed, because the Trump Adminisitration has said it will not fight the Texas voter ID law in court.
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