Texas Voter ID Law Ruled Discriminatory for the Fifth Time

“At some point, this discrimination based on the color of Texas citizens must stop. The compact of legal protections for citizens applies without regard to race, creed, color, or national origin.” — Gary Bledsoe, President the Texas NAACP

In a great victory for the voting rights movement, a federal judge ruled Monday that Texas’s suppressive Voter ID law was discriminatory. Lawyers from NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (both Democracy Initiative partners) were a part of the legal team challenging the law.

Kristen Clarke, President and Executive Director of the Lawyers Committee celebrated the decision in a press release, “The court’s decision makes clear that Texas’s voter ID law stands as one of the most discriminatory voter suppression measures in the country, and should issue the death knell for burdensome voter ID requirements in Texas and across the country.”

Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos of the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas ruled that the law was enacted to discriminate against black and Hispanic voters in violation of the Voting Rights Act.

This is the fifth time that a court has ruled the voter ID law to be intentionally discriminatory. The court finding could put Texas back under federal supervision which the judge will consider at the next stage of this case.

Texas has the strictest Voter ID law in the country and the state intends to appeal the court ruling. If the ruling goes all the way to the Supreme Court and stands, it would throw out the entire law and set a precedent to fight other discriminatory voter ID laws.