Just Weeks Before Elections, Fed Judges Reinstate Texas's Harsh Voter ID Law

Just a few weeks before the November elections, a federal appeals court on Tuesday temporarily reinstated Texas’s harsh voter ID law, despite warnings—including from the Department of Justice—that it suppresses people of color, the poor, the young, and the elderly from casting their ballots.

“Today’s decision shocks the conscience of good people everywhere because it has the clear consequence of denying access to the ballot to many people of color, the elderly, and young persons,” stated Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas NAACP and an attorney with PotterBledsoe.

In the ruling, a three-judge panel on the New Orleans-based fifth circuit court of appeals temporarily blocked a decision issued last week to strike down voter ID requirements because they discriminate against Black and Hispanic voters.

As justification for Tuesday’s reinstatement of the law, the panel argued that changing the requirements, so close to the election, could cause “confusion” among voters. “Based primarily on the extremely fast-approaching election date, we stay the district court’s judgment pending appeal,” Judge Edith Brown Clement wrote for the panel. The panel did not rule on the merit of the lower court’s decision, instead imposing a temporary block to keep the requirements in place for the upcoming election.

In her decision last week, U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos compared the state’s voter ID law to a poll tax, intentionally designed by the legislature to prevent minorities in the state from voting.