Upholding Texas Photo ID Law, Federal Appeals Court Deals Blow to Voting Rights

In a move that frustrated voting rights advocates, a federal appeals court on Friday ruled that Texas can implement a revisied voter identification law that critics claim is unconstitutionally discriminatory.

“We continue to firmly believe that the Texas photo ID law is one of the most discriminatory and restrictive measures of its kind,” Kristen Clarke of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, part of the legal team that challenged the measure, said following the court’s decision.

In a 2-1 ruling, a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel reversed a district judge’s 2017 ruling that Senate Bill 5 unconstitutionally discriminates against black and Latinx voters. The legislation in question is a revised version of Senate Bill 14, which was enacted in 2011 but eventually deemed discriminatory and blocked by federal courts.

S.B. 14 mandated that voters present a government-issued photo ID; S.B. 5 added a provision that required those who lacked such identification to sign an affidavit and present an alternate ID.

“No law should be allowed to stand that is merely built on the back of a plainly discriminatory law,” Clarke declared.

In his dissenting opinion, Circuit Judge James Graves wrote (pdf) that “S.B. 5 does not fully remove the burden disproportionately placed on poor and minority voters; it just creates a new and different burden.”