A top lawyer for Texas fiercely defended the state’s strictest-in-the-nation voter identification law Tuesday in a high-profile case that could ultimately determine at what point states that assert that they are protecting the integrity of elections cross over into disenfranchisement. Standing before all 15 judges of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller argued that judges were wrong to conclude in two previous rulings that the Texas Legislature discriminated against minority and low-income voters in passing a 2011 law that stipulates which types of photo identification election officials can and cannot accept at the polls. If those rulings are left as written, “all voting laws could be in jeopardy,” Keller said before a packed courtroom that included his boss, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Lawyers representing the Justice Department, minority groups and other plaintiffs disagreed, asking the judges to affirm what a lower court — and a three-judge panel in this same courthouse — previously concluded: that Senate Bill 14 has a “discriminatory effect” on Hispanic, African-American and other would-be voters in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Only a handful of judges asked questions at length Tuesday, making it difficult to judge where the majority stands. But the 5th Circuit is considered among the nation’s most conservative, with 10 of its judges having been appointed by Republican presidents.
Paxton left the courtroom Tuesday feeling “optimistic” that the law, “which has worked” in preventing voter fraud, would survive, he told The Texas Tribune. “There’s been no discriminatory effect shown – they never provided any evidence,” Paxton said. “We’ve done everything we can to provide a way for people to vote. It’s clear.”
Asked whether Texas should also strengthen rules for absentee voting, considering that experts say those ballots are far more prone to fraud than those cast in person, Paxton said that was “totally up to the Legislature.” He added, however, “Anything that eliminates fraud is usually good.”
Chad Dunn, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said he wouldn’t bother trying to read the judges’ leanings based on their questions, but he nevertheless felt confident, calling the Texas law “indefensible.”
Full Article: Texas defends its voter ID law before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals | The Star-Telegram.
