10.10.14
Voter ID Ruling Follow Up, Preclearance Bail-In
The discrimination was so blatant in the Texas Voter ID ruling that if could have a long lasting effect on Texas, The Biggest Aspect of the Texas Case: Texas To Be Covered Again by Section 5 (If Case Stands).
Justin noted a key aspect of the Texas id decision which I want to highlight: “Also extremely important: the court expressly finds intentional discrimination relevant to bail-in under the Voting Rights Act, and says it will consider a bail-in order in the days to come. If the court indeed follows up with a bail-in order, Texas could become the first state brought back under a preclearance regime since Shelby County.”
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If this works, it will be very important because it would mean that a variety of changes, such as voter id laws, registration laws, and redistricting, would again be subject to federal approval (either DOJ or a three judge court in DC). Preclearance is a big stick for the federal government.
In Shelby County, 4 Justices said that preclearance had to be tied to current conditions to be constitutional. (Justice Thomas would have gotten rid of preclearance even for bail in). 4 Justices believe preclearance even under the old rules is ok. If the TX trial court has made credible findings that Texas has engaged in intentional racial discrimination in voting, even the conservative Justices could agree to preclearance. But that’s no sure bet, and you can be sure that Texas will litigate this question very, very hard.
The Texas GOP setting voting rights in Texas back 40 years.