Two right-wing judges reinstate Republican-backed voter suppression law

[turbinetree]

Source: Think Progress

In a stroke of horrible luck for voting rights advocates, a case involving Texas’ voter ID law, which was tossed out in its entirety by a federal trial court last month, was assigned to a three-judge appeals court panel that included two of the most conservative judges in the country. Those two judges, Jerry Smith and Jennifer Elrod, reinstated the Texas law Tuesday evening over the dissent of a third colleague.

In what is almost certainly a coincidence, but a very unfortunate one for liberals, Smith and Elrod have a pattern of being assigned politically charged cases and handing down opinions that largely align with Republican orthodoxy. Smith and Elrod were behind a 2014 decision reinstating a Texas anti-abortion law — that law was eventually struck down by the Supreme Court. And they twice sat on panels halting President Obama’s efforts to allow certain undocumented immigrants to remain in the country unmolested.

Smith and Elrod’s Tuesday order is brief and offers little reasoning on the merits. It is the latest chapter in a long, ongoing lawsuit that still has several more court hearings ahead of it before it is complete.

In 2016, the conservative United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit struck down Texas’ voter ID law, noting its discriminatory impact on voters of color. Although voter ID laws are commonly justified as a measure to combat voter fraud at the polls, such fraud barely exists. Yet, as the Fifth Circuit explained, the law’s impact on minority voters is quite real. As one expert witness testified, “Hispanic registered voters and Black registered voters were respectively 195% and 305% more likely than their Anglo peers to lack” voter ID.”

Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/two-right-wing-judges-reinstate-republican-backed-voter-suppression-law-c430aaf4d380/

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I really do hate texas................ a lot...................they spend a lot of taxpayer money on this sh*t, a lot of it.............

[elleng]

1. 'In addition to holding that the law is invalid, the Fifth Circuit also sent the case back down

to the trial court to determine whether the law was enacted with discriminatory intent — a question that, if answered in the affirmative, could justify striking down the law in its entirety. While that issue was pending before the trial court, the state legislature amended the law in ways that mitigate, without eliminating, its impact on minority voters.

The trial court’s August order determined that yes, the law was indeed enacted with discriminatory intent. Accordingly, it held that the amendments to the law were not sufficient to save it, and tossed the entire law out.

Tuesday’s order by Smith and Elrod stays this August order, reinstating the amended law “until the final disposition of this appeal.” Though their opinion is very short, they do argue that one of the amendments, which allows voters who are unable to reasonably obtain an ID to sign an affidavit attesting as much and still cast a ballot, “remedies plaintiffs’ alleged harm.”'

This is an interim, procedural decision.

[sharedvalues]

2. Honestly how can a woman be a Republican today?

How can that judge be a republican woman? It's almost an contradiction in terms.

[Xipe Totec]

4. Stupidity is gender-blind nt

[SoCalNative]

3. One more reason I feel no sympathy for Texas

or Florida. They deserve what they get.

[onetexan]

7. hey not all Texans are like that mind you

there are plenty of RW nuts in California as well as well every other state. Tx just so happens to be one of the more red states. Google its political history for a quick lesson. It was once blue in the 60s and the Dems got more complacent and the Repugs outsmarted us with their southern strategy & migration of midwesterners to Tx for jobs in light of the energy (and later tech) boom since. The major cities are all blue. It's the rural areas that are bleeding red. Tx has its problems, but i love it as a state. Us Tx libs don't get mad; we get even by working to turn Tx back to blue again. One day we'll get there. Right now it's a hard fight so don't put us all in one basket. I don't apologize for my rant given how insinuating your post was.

[diane in sf]

12. Houston votes blue, not red.

[not fooled]

5. This is why

the people who have seized control of this nation are so intent on packing the judiciary with Heriturd Fuckdation/Fuckderalist Society approved far-right activist judges. That is their ticket to enforcing enactment of their sh*tty agenda.

[a kennedy]

6. This is why I need DU for all this freaking information......

Holy crap.........IS THIS LAW YET??? De we have choices......can we do anything??

[elleng]

8. No, it is not,

this is an interim, procedural decision. See my post above.

[riversedge]

9. As the article says.........it could be in effect for 2018!!

..............Though Smith and Elrod’s order is temporary and the case will be reviewed by another panel of the Fifth Circuit, their temporary stay could prove quite significant — and could even potentially allow the amended law to be in effect during the 2018 election, even if that law is ultimately struck down.

A full hearing on the merits will likely take months to resolve. The appeal could stretch out even longer, moreover, if the case is taken up by the full Fifth Circuit, as it was at an earlier stage of the litigation. Meanwhile, the date of the 2018 election will draw ever closer, with Smith and Elrod’s stay still in effect.

The Supreme Court, moreover, has hewed rigidly to a rule first announced in Purcell v. Gonzalez, which establishes that, as an election draws nigh, courts should be reluctant to hand down orders changing which election laws are in effect. Thus, even if Smith and Elrod’s stay is lifted before the 2018 election, the Supreme Court could still cite Purcell for the proposition that the stay must remain in effect until after the election happens.

[dem in texas]

10. Keep the Hate out of your Postings and Don't be so Judgemental About Texas!

There are lots of good people in Texas and lots of loyal Democrats. All the large cities and the Valley are blue; the problem is the rural counties are red and Texas has about a zillion little counties. As far as spending the taxpayers' money, it is the Texans who are paying for all the appeals filed by our super conservative attorney general.

The clock is ticking for Texas Republicans because the Hispanic population is growing and they are heavily Democratic Even if the redistricting and gerrymandering appeals are lost, Texas will still turn blue, it will just take a little longer.

[YOHABLO]

11. There are democratic strongholds throughout predominately red Texas. They're all not horrible.

[C Moon]

13. It's sounding to me like the GOP's focus is nothing but keeping in power in 2018.

Many of the "nasty" things they have been doing (WH included), can be linked to them remaining in power.
That's all they care about.
They don't giving a fuck about anybody; they don't care about America; they don't care about the world.
They only care about themselves. It's never been more obvious. Never. They are horrible "people" and they need to be removed.

[Gothmog]

14. Undr the Purcell rule, it is far too close to November election to change rules

You do not change the rules too close to an election

This ruling was not on the merit and these teo judges were part of the six judges who ruled for the voter id law in the en banc ruling shere the law was found to be discriminatory on a 9 to 6 ruling