The Supreme Court on Friday allowed a controversial Texas voter ID law to remain in effect for now, turning away an emergency motion from opponents of the law who say it is one of the most strict in the country. The order, which came without published dissent, invited a new filing if a federal appeals court hasn’t acted by July 20.
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The one-paragraph order Friday is a rebuff to civil rights groups, though it left open the possibility of high court intervention later.
Summary: The U.S. Supreme Court denied taking control over the Texas Voter Law, SB 14, and sent it back to the lower courts to make a quick decision.
The high court said that it is aware of “the time constraints the parties confront in light of the scheduled elections”.
The order marks a compromise in a case that sharply divided the justices when they refused to block the measure before the 2014 election.
“But now it is an election year again, and the appeals court has still not resolved the merits of the case”.
Democratic lawmakers and a coalition of Latino advocacy groups had challenged the Texas law as discriminatory, Fox News reported.
After a district court ruled against the state in 2014 – the law made its way to the USA 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos ruled it was passed by the Texas state Legislature in 2011 with a “discriminatory purpose” and could disenfranchise about 600,000 voters, a disproportionate number of whom are black or Hispanic.
The Supreme Court said the ordinances allowed criminal prosecution without letting the environmental commission determine if a violation had taken place and without allowing the agency to determine if administrative or civil penalties were more appropriate.
If the law were struck down temporarily and then restored later, it would cause “irreparable injury”, they said.
At the time, Texas along with some other states, was covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which meant that federal officials or judges had to approve any changes to election laws that might hurt minorities. A 2008 Supreme Court decision in support of an in law indicated that the standard for judging voter ID laws would be the specific provisions of each state’s statute and the impact of any state’s law on voter participation.
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“We think it upholds the integrity of Texas environmental law and reaffirms the important role for clear, even-handed statewide regulation”, he said.
