The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled that Texas’ law requiring individuals to show a limited selection of government issued photo identification when they go to vote is racially discriminatory. Wednesday’s ruling marks a momentous victory in an already three-year-long court battle to challenge the strictest voter ID law in the country. The court determined that the law disproportionately hinders the ability of African Americans and Latinos to participate in the political process and sent the case back down to the district court to determine how the law should be temporarily remedied prior to the November 2016 election. This same district court had previously ruled that the law not only discriminated against racial minorities, but that it was intentionally designed to do so. The Fifth Circuit did not decide whether the Texas law was purposely discriminatory. Instead they have directed the district court to rehear that specific claim after the November election. The IDs the Texas Legislature had approved for voting included military IDs and concealed handgun carry permits, but forbade employee photo IDs and university photo IDs. The plaintiffs’ lawyers argued that the law privileged forms of identification that were more likely to be held […]
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