Remember, this fight is far from over:
A federal judge ruled on Monday [April 10, 2017] that the voter identification law the Texas Legislature passed in 2011 was enacted with the intent to discriminate against black and Hispanic voters, raising the possibility that the state’s election procedures could be put back under federal oversight. Source: NYTimes.com
Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos, United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, had made a similar ruling in 2014, but after Texas appealed her decision, a federal appellate court instructed her to review the issue once more.
Then came the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling which said Judge Ramos relied too much on Texas’ history of discriminatory voting and other “infirm” evidence.
Judge Ramos wrote the 5th District’s evidence “did not tip the scales” in favor of Texas.
Many southern states have fought the federal approval requirement for amending voting laws. Most of the issues were lifted when the Supreme Court decision in 2013 invalidated a key part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Source: NYTimes.com
And finally, something new:
With the ruling, two federal courts – in consecutive months – have found that Texas lawmakers knowingly discriminated against Latino and black voters in elections. In March, a three-judge panel in San Antonio ruled the Legislature illegally “packed” and “cracked” minority populations in certain districts while redrawing the state’s congressional map in 2011 – an effort to reduce their influence across Texas. Source: TexasTribune.com
Remember that phrase “packed and cracked” aka gerrymandering.