Court Strikes Down Texas Voter ID Law
- Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:08pm by
Mytheos Holt
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In a move that will likely stand as grounds for a lengthy legal battle before the Supreme Court, a three judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia struck down Texas’ new Voter ID law, claiming it unconstitutionally infringes the rights of African Americans and Hispanics.
The panel, led by Judge David S. Tatel, unequivocally tossed out all of Texas’ evidence, declaring it all “unpersuasive, invalid or both” in a 56 page opinion. The Washington Post reports:
Texas Attorney General Gregg Abbott said that the state will appeal Thursday’s ruling to the Supreme Court, which is the next stop in a voting rights case.
“Today’s decision is wrong on the law and improperly prevents Texas from implementing the same type of ballot integrity safeguards that are employed by Georgia and Indiana — and were upheld by the Supreme Court,” Abbott said in a statement.
Texas is the largest state covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires federal approval or “preclearance” of any voting changes in states that have a history of discrimination. Because of Texas’s discrimination history, the voter ID law signed last year by its Republican governor, Rick Perry, had to be cleared by the Justice Department. The department blocked the law in March, saying it would endanger minority voting rights. Texas sued the department, leading to a week-long trial in July.
Tatel was joined in the Texas decision by U.S. district judges Rosemary Collyer, appointed in 2002 by President George W. Bush and Robert L. Wilkins, who was nominated in 2010 by President Obama.
Along with Abbott slamming the decision, True the Vote, a nonpartisan election integrity organization, put out the following statement:
“This is a sad day for a majority of Americans demanding better safeguards against election fraud and irregularity,” True The Vote President Catherine Engelbrecht said. “Texas voters deserve the same peace of mind offered to residents of Indiana, Pennsylvania, Kansas and others when casting their ballot. Holding states to separate standards of law in the 21st Century is counter-productive and disrespectful to America’s tradition of equal protection under the law.”
The case now heads to the Supreme Court, which previously found an Indiana Voter ID law constitutional in 2008. Whether the Court will revisit that decision or reapply it to this case is now anyone’s guess, but given the large degree of reliance on the Voting Rights Act in this decision, that law itself could become a casualty.
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Comments (85)
Locked
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 4:30pmWere the facts in this article checked?
From True The Vote’s website:
“True The Vote began out of experiences during the 2008 election cycle of the Harris County, Texas Tea Party organization, King Street Patriots.”
True the Vote was created as a Tea Party organization… I‘m not sure I’d call that non-partisan. Not that they’re wrong in their views, but the article is claiming something that seems quite false.
Report Post »HOOT_OWL
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 4:57pmI think this is what Glenn Beck was talking about around
Report Post »2 years ago .He said George Soros was throwing money
at election for Judge seats through-out the land. There is a
possibility that this election is going to be won inside the
court-house…..Not good.
AllLost
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 5:12pmI don’t know anything about this organization, but nonpartisan typically means that it is made up of both Democrats and Republicans. The reason it was started or by whom is not really an issue.
Do you think that preventing voter fraud is a partisan issue? May I vote a few thousand times in your district?
Report Post »UnreconstructedLibertarian
Posted on August 31, 2012 at 9:47amThe main fact not checked about this article, is that the decision to deny Texas a voter ID is a function of the VRA of ‘64. This is NOT a normal proceeding of a Federal court.
It is, however, an example of misconstruing/misapplying an existing law that singles out certain locations (both north and south) who are not in control of their own voting proceedures or qualifications – but answer to a Federal tribunal.
Learn about it for yourself
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act
This is why a state like Tennessee isn’t the headline – they are not subject to the VRA. But we DO have a voter ID law that the Feds won’t touch because they have no avenue to overturn it.
The author of this article then becomes a tool of the left. By passing this off as a normal function of jurisprudence – when it is NOT. It is a function of the VRA – and trying to be passed off as a normal application of Federal law. This shouldn’t go to the Supreme Court, because in this matter the VRA is final. If accepted by the Supreme Court, we will have defacto application of the VRA and federal oversight over ALL STATES that actually is illegal and unconstitutional. This is really a subtle psy-op of legal proportion.
The Texas AG would be better served to make this a case against the VRA – rather than becoming a useful idiot in making it universal – which would be the motive for the Supreme Court taking the case.
Report Post »UnreconstructedLibertarian
Posted on August 31, 2012 at 7:16pmTwo Thumbs up to Mytheos Holt.
Good job on the edit.
Now, its time to end this tyranny for those States, counties, and municipalities (North and South) in Section 5 of the VRA.
Report Post »lisa2994
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 4:22pmYou have to show your ID for lots of things. I show my drivers license when I go to vote without hesitation! Do these people not drive? Otherwise how do they get around? Stop the insanity please! I hope we fight this tooth and nail!!!!!!
Report Post »Belwraith
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 6:46pmWhere we live, people have to show ID to cash a check, register your kids for school, apply for welfare, social security, unemployment, worker’s compensation, to buy cigarettes/alcohol…the list goes on…don‘t tell me that Hispanics and African American’s don‘t do any one of those and can’t get photo ID…maybe the illegal one‘s can’t, but they’re NOT SUPPOSED to be voting anyway! The Constitutional right to vote is for American citizens. I swear the US gets more bizarre all the time.
Report Post »SolitudeBliss
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 7:46pmMy mom has never driven and thus has no need for a Driver’s License however, she did have the sense to get a state issued photo id just like a license. Duh. Come on people, this is common sense. You need a photo id for almost everything in life so heII yes, you need a photo ID to vote.
Report Post »RNR2012
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 8:21pmIt “infringes” on the rights of African Americans and Hispanic Americans!? Wow! That’s quite the RACIST statement from the court. How, pray-tell, does it infringe on ANY Americans’ rights exactly – much less one or two select ethnic groups? This country is out of control. We are in this country together and a gigantic wedge is being thrust in the heart of it. I’ve never seen people work so hard to make voter fraud possible. I‘m not claiming it’s going to happen… but let’s not make it so easy to commit the fraud. CRAZINESS!!! God help us all. R & R 2012!
Report Post »BoyScout_Mom
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 4:17pm“Fathom the hypocrisy of a government that requires every citizen to prove they are Insured…
But NOT everyone must prove they are a citizen.
NOW add this… Many of those who refuse or are unable to prove they are citizens, will receive FREE insurance PAID FOR by those who are forced to buy insurance because they are citizens.”
Report Post »KangarooJack
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 4:22pmMakes you want to cry, scream, or curl up in a corner doesn’t it?!
Report Post »normalmom
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 4:33pmMakes me want to beat the living tar out of someone who is supposed to unhold the constitution not twist it for their own purpose.
Report Post »Wolfgang the Gray
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 5:53pmMakes me wonder if our country is headed for civil war. Who hold the control of this nation, We The People or Those Appointed?
So these poor people that wouldn’t be allowed to vote because they have no photo ID, they never check out a library book, cash a check, drive a vehicle, get a hunting or fishing license, buy a firearm, or fly? Give me a break!!!
Report Post »countryfirst
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 4:04pmI heard a gentleman make a perfect case for the rights to vote and bear arms, If you do not need ID to vote then you shouldn’t need one to buy a gun. I say both rights can be destructive if given to the criminal and misinformed mind.
Report Post »SocialistSlayer
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 4:18pmI agree , if they don’t have to show an ID to vote then they violate my rights demanding that I show an ID to Drive, Buy a Gun, or for anything else. Welcome to the new Amerika – where Commies rule!
Report Post »toto
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 6:53pmThey just passed a law in CA that you can’t be in public with an unloaded long gun! They are taking guns away, little by little. We are in such deep trouble.
Report Post »Lt_Scrounge
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 6:59pmI have been asking for months why it is an imposition to require an $10 ID to vote but not an imposition to require a $200+ permit to carry a firearm? Wouldn’t that be considered infringing on the right to BEAR arms as described in the Constitution for those of us without that extra money to spend?
Report Post »Sirfoldallot
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 4:02pmFed‘s won’t send help @ the illegal entering , dout they will inforce this BS ruleing.
Report Post »Diane TX
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 4:00pmI intend to show my picture ID when I vote. I encourage everyone else in Texas to do the same. When you’re told “it’s not required” , just reply – “It should be”.
Report Post »georgesgirl
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 5:07pmIronically, NM allows illegals to get a drivers license and they seem to have no problem getting THAT i.d. The quandry here would be whether they would have to show it to vote. The answer is no. I handed my i.d to a lady when voting and she backed off like I handed her a rattlesnake and said “oh no, we don’t require that in this state”. She was so proud.
Report Post »Sirfoldallot
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:47pmShow this dumb a$$ Judge face & fire this numb nut 4 fraud !
Report Post »michael48
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 5:49pmlawyers and judges should be forced to wear bulls-eye on thier foreheads…right below the beltline!!!!!
Report Post »Rampart
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:46pmTHIS IS RIDICULOUS! The Supreme Court has already found in favor of ID laws! Why do these tards continue to waste our tax dollars on unnecessary trials?
Texas should ignore the ruling and DARE Obama to do something about it. By the time he can respond, he‘ll be busy packing his brewing kit and digging out baggies of choom he’s stashed around the White House in preparation to move his marxist butt back to ChiTown.
Report Post »Government_Goodies
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:43pmIf someone can’t get it together enough to get an ID, then why the hell do we want them voting?
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:59pmRoman Senators needed their mobs, so do Democrat elected officials.
Report Post »Sirfoldallot
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:42pmGo ahead & ask 4 ID & tie it up in court, they think texas will back down , call there bluff.
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:41pmBrasil “also opted for the identification of the voter at the voting machine itself”
http://noleakybuckets.org/brasil-history.html
Report Post »Jenny Lind
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:40pmWhat ticks me off is the supreme court has already upheld voter ID, what was so different in Texas law, or is this just another Holder incident?
Report Post »progressiveslayer
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:39pmYou need a photo Id to vote,no can‘t have that it’ll make it too difficult to commit voter fraud. You have to have a permit to fart in this country but no ID when you vote? We’ve allowed our government to get too big and this is what happens,idiotic rulings by judges with an agenda.
Report Post »Sirfoldallot
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:39pmFed’s can break there own law , BS, tell the Eric Holder crowd 2 take a hike.
Report Post »Sirfoldallot
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:37pmStand up 2 these Fed bully’s & say State trumps , & make them take u 2 court.
Report Post »OneTermPresident
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:37pmWhat I don’t understand is how can some liberal D.C. judges throw it out when the Supreme Court has already ruled it to be Constitutional? I know it’s a State by State issue but this is just dragging things out past this election for the sake of Obama.
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:36pmThose evil Canadians!
“In Canada to vote, one must prove their identity and address. A voter has three options”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_ID_laws#Canada
Guess the ACLU should send representatives up their slap them down for demanding ID.
Report Post »Baikonur
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 4:57pm@Walkabout
Report Post »Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:36pm
‘Those evil Canadians!…Guess the ACLU should send representatives up their slap them down for demanding ID.’
*************
Why would the ACLU dictate to other countries how to follow their own laws? And why do you care so much what Canada or Germany do? If you admire these nations, maybe we can talk about their universal health care.
Walkabout
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:34pmHow do socialists run elections?
Voters have to present their polling notification or a piece of photo ID (identity card, passport) when voting. The election officials may refrain from demanding identification when the voter is personally known to them, given his or her name is in the polling station’s register of voters.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_ID_laws#Germany
Report Post »xoke
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:33pmFirst time I been happy to be in Kansas instead of Texas in a long time. Take it to the Supreme Court Texas! This is bull, you are a free state Texas, free to do whatever you want.
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:32pmMexico’s national voter IDs part of culture
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-01-22/mexico-national-voter-ID-cards/52779410/1
Voter fraud is part of the Democrat Party culture!
Report Post »paperpushermj
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:32pmHere is a work around for Texas:
Report Post ».
Require a picture ID to access any State Government Service.
Once this is established and most if not all Citizens of the State have the necessary Picture ID, come back then to the voter ID issue.
Government_Goodies
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:44pmI like this solution: You must have an ID card to get welfare.
We’ll see these precious ickle poor people suddenly have no trouble at all getting into town to get an ID.
Report Post »Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:31pmNow, Andrew Jackson was a terrible SOB in my opinion, but I kinda dig this quote (even though I think he was wrong about what he was saying it for)
“John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it!”
Point being, sooner or later Texas is going to have to decide whether they are going to play ball. If Texas said, “No, we’re going to require it anyways” What then? Owebama going to send in federal troops? You wanna go there? Let’s dance then. Texas secession needs to be on the table. We have water, oil, energy, farmland, etc. We’ll have no trouble making allies. We can hoe our own road without a totalitarian in DC running our lives.
Come and Take It
Report Post »VRW Conspirator
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:46pmRoth…right there with you man…only been in TX for a year but I know for a fact that the current US government is TERRIFIED of TX and what she represents…much like CA did before they fell off a cliff and ran people like me out of the state….
Big State..
Big Money
Big Economy
Self sufficient with food and energy
LOTS of Big military bases and ports…
Big population, tech, and business centers….
CA went one way… TX the other… we can see the results… Here is for hoping my friends, family, and former fellow Statesmen in CA get on the ball soon or there is going to be a HUGE surge in CA residents moving to TX…
AJ was a jerkoff…but he had that right…TX should do the same…”fine SCTOUS rule how you like, we are a Sovereign State, try and make us obey”
the Constitution, 9th and 10th Amendment, and 180 years of history are on the side of TX… the Constitution clearly states that laws MUST be applied EQUALLY to ALL parties…the US government and courts can not allow one state to have ID laws for voting and another to be banned from doing so due to past transgressions…
go to HELL DC District Court of Appeals…MAKE US STOP!!
Report Post »Skrewedretiree
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:31pmWait a minute…..These same blacks and hispanics would have to show ID to cash a check or buy a gun, plus pass a background check for the gun. They would have to show ID to purchase a bottle of booze.
But no ID to vote?
Elections matter, people! I bet the judges on these panels are all Democrats or Democrat Appointees.
Remember in November!
Report Post »Silversmith
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:31pmSorry – not buying that argument. One law for everyone. If blacks and hispanics are somehow less able to get an ID, which I doubt unless they are illegal, then the problem exists somewhere else besides the polls.
Silversmith
Report Post »grimmster
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:12pmOk, let me get this straight,all Texans would have to show i.d., but it would only affect blacks and hispanics? So the judgement alone is racist towards caucassions, mogoloids,and mixed races, other than hispanics, and blacks, go figure…..
Report Post »sWampy
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:21pmGot to love activists judges violating the constitution to “protect” the constitution.
Report Post »LoveTheTruthGuy
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:21pmI totally agree, it is a bunch of racists that keep saying this is discrimination. It affects EVERYBODY! Same with the racists like Chris Matthews who goes on about messing with food stamps only affects blacks. I wish more Republican politicians would call the media out when they make all these racist statements, then maybe the courts would wake up.
Report Post »I Fly Low
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:26pmMan……. How low can we go? I’m 53 years old and BY LAW, I have to show an I.D. To buy a beer anywhere in the state of Tn. All sales of any alcohol demand an I.D. By law no matter if you are 80 years old.
Report Post »barber2
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:31pmThe Race Card has been used to ruin American public education, the housing market , and now it’s on to ruining elections. Since our country has been over run by illegal aliens and we are at war with secretive enemies who have shown their battle style on 9 / 11, and other tax payer tired of having a government which seems to respect the rights of the minority OVER the rights of the majority. This is not separate but equal. This is both separate and unequal. Against the American citizen and against the American majority. Shouldn’t the rights of both the majority and the minority be treated equally ? If you favor one, you discriminate against the other. If you are required to have an ID to drive a car, get married, buy booze, travel abroad/ return to America , why not to ID yourself as the registered voter ? And Don’t you need an ID to register to vote in the first place ? This entire mess is like something out of a Kafka novel. The way this administration runs our government is like something out of a Kafka novel. Time to ban this book as unreadable and unworkable.
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