Houston Chronicle - Feds Sue to Block New Voter ID Law

News Article

By Gary Martin and David Salef Rauf

The Obama administration sued Texas on Thursday to block the state's new voter ID law and also intervened in an ongoing redistricting lawsuit, claiming that the new maps would disenfranchise minorities.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department was taking the steps following a recent Supreme Court ruling that struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act.

Holder said he would not allow the high court's ruling "to be interpreted as open season for states to pursue measures that suppress voting rights."

"We will keep fighting aggressively to prevent voter disenfranchisement," Holder said.

Texas officials immediately called the Justice Department actions a federal overreach that violates the state's sovereignty.

"The filing of endless litigation in an effort to obstruct the will of the people of Texas is what we have to come to expect from Attorney General Eric Holder and President Obama," said Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who is eyeing another presidential race in 2016.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, a GOP gubernatorial candidate to succeed Perry, said the Justice Department is joining the Texas Democratic Party in suing the state over the voter ID law and redistricting for political reasons.

Abbott said the Obama administration is "not helping minority voters, but helping the Democratic Party win elections in 2014."

And Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said the Justice Department lawsuit was a snub to the state's voters.

"As Texans we reject the notion that the federal government knows what's best for us," Cornyn said.

Rights groups cheer

Advocates for minority rights applauded the Justice Department.

"Texas has a deeply disturbing history of brazenly suppressing the votes and voting strength of black and Latino voters," said Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, chairman of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, welcomed the federal government's help.

"Government officials in Texas are systematically making it harder for minorities to vote," Martinez Fischer said.

State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, noted that the voter ID law is opposed not only by the NAACP and the League of United Latin American Citizens, but also by the retired Americans advocacy group AARP.

State already on notice

The decision to intervene in the redistricting case - now being heard before a three-judge federal panel in San Antonio - came at the request of minority rights groups, said Luis Vera, a lawyer in San Antonio.

The Justice Department's actions were telegraphed last month when Holder accused Texas of intentionally drawing redistricting maps that discriminated against minorities. Holder put Texas on notice of the Justice Department's intent to join the battle. On Thursday, the Justice Department joined the battle.

Carl Tobias with the University of Richmond School of Law said the Justice Department's intervention in the redistricting case would allow it to fully participate in the redistricting litigation with resources and expertise when the case is heard before the San Antonio court, giving more weight to minority groups challenging the law.

Abbott confident

The legal battle should not impede state held elections next year, according to Abbott. He said the federal court in San Antonio could approve interim maps while the case is decided.

The Supreme Court in June effectively struck down the preclearance requirement of the Voting Rights Act that required prior federal approval of changes in voting laws in specified states with a history of discrimination.

Texas was one of nine mostly southern states under the preclearance provision.

A panel of federal judges in Washington last year found that the Texas voter ID law and its redistricting maps were intentionally designed to discriminate against minorities.

The Supreme Court ruling voided those lower court decisions and Texas moved this year to implement its voter ID law, which requires a government-issued identification card with photograph to vote in elections.

Discrimination charged

In its lawsuit, the Justice Department charges that the state voter ID law and redistricting maps are discriminatory and violate constitutional protections.

"The Justice Department will use all tools it has available to ensure that each citizen can cast a ballot free from impermissible discrimination," said Jocelyn Samuels, acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.

The lawsuit was filed against the state, the Texas secretary of state and the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, which issues issuance of licenses and identification cards.

"I'm not a lawyer, but I don't see any good that can come from overstepping the Supreme Court on this," said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands.

"Efforts to force Texas back under the Justice Department's boot will not win this rodeo," Brady said.

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