Texas seeks to challenge Voting Rights Act

Voters cast their ballots at a polling station in East Austin, Texas, Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2010. / AP Photo

(AP) AUSTIN, Texas - Texas on Wednesday asked a federal panel weighing its photo ID requirement for voters to allow its attorneys to challenge the constitutionality of a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, taking a direct shot at the statue that has blocked the state from enforcing tightened voter requirements.

In a filing to a three-judge panel in Washington, Texas asked to submit a petition charging that Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act "exceeds the enumerated powers of Congress and conflicts with Article IV of the Constitution and the Tenth Amendment."

As a state with a history of voter discrimination, Texas is required under that section of the Voting Rights Act to get advance approval of voting changes from either the Justice Department or the U.S. District Court in Washington.

The provision dates from 1965, but was upheld in 2006 after Congress found that discrimination still exists in the areas where it was historically a problem.

On Monday, the Justice Department declared that Texas' photo ID rule could disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of registered Hispanics statewide — its latest move against Republican-led voting changes in many states that have drawn protests from minorities, poor people and students.

The Justice Department's objection sent the case to the federal panel that is now deciding whether Texas, as well as South Carolina, will be allowed to enforce new voter photo ID requirements. It also has resulted in the Texas law being blocked until the court rules.

Under Section 5 of the Voter Rights Act, Texas also had to win pre-clearance for the new congressional and state legislative districts drawn by its Republican-dominated state Legislature. Those proposed redistricting maps have themselves touched off a legal battle that is now in the hands of the same three-judge federal panel in Washington that is mulling the voter ID law. Meanwhile, the Texas primary has been delayed and now likely won't take place until May 29.

With its filing, Texas is seeking permission to make a larger argument on the merits of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act itself. If the provision were overturned, Texas could make changes to its voting rules without federal approval.

Such an argument is important because the federal panel's decision can be appealed directly to the U.S. Supreme Court, which could potentially rule to overturn the provision entirely.

Alabama's Shelby County is already challenging Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, but that case was argued in January in the federal appeals court system and a decision has yet to be reached in the matter.

Texas could potentially avoid the appeals courts by making its argument as part of its voter ID case, then having any appeals continue to the Supreme Court.

[sadiedog1]

if you don't have a valid id or another proof of citizenship , you have no right to vote in America i am sick of adjusting laws to accommodate illegals !!!!!!!!!!!

[FormerUSMCSergeant]

As a state with a history of voter discrimination....
---
History?

[smirk5]

It's not like there's even a problem with unlawful voting as it is in Texas. This law doesn't create jobs. This is only an attempt to limit voting to the "right" kind of people. Republicans are afraid they can't win without making it more difficult for brown people to vote.

[rayward73446]

Any act that would disenfranchise even one registered voter is unfair and speaks of a Jim Crow metality that I have found in almost every republican I have personally known. Many southern states, including Texas, and Oklahoma still have ingrained racism that feels that only the middle class whites should be able to vote. The republicans in these states need to realize that everyone that is registered to vote can vote, and there should be no roadblocks to their voting rights.

[libertyfirst1776_]

So, you propose that illegals that have been able to lie on their voter registration forms successfully should be able to vote? Hell no. Only those eligible to vote can vote. There is no gray area here.

[nuttyworld]

What a crock. "Disenfranchised" people have no problem producing a photo I.D. when they stand in line for free holiday food. Shouldn't voting carry the same importance? I would be insulted if I represented any of the so-called "disenfranchised" as one media referred to them as black, brown, and poor white people. Seems like libs don't want their disenfranchised to succeed in anything - otherwhise they wouldn't have anyone to coddle and treat as helpless.

[Phxfire]

Ok, this is a rant...a rant is something that doesn't make any sense, but shows the person is out-of-control and hysterical.

[fitstshu]

To me the south is a good place to be from

[gbuddha2012]

what the south needs is another abe lincoln... good and hard

[texassupernova]

What the South needs is another William T. Sherman.

[libertyfirst1776_]

@thebob-bob - Surely you are joking. Obama's attempt to disenfranchise the legitimate voter is an impeachable offense. You must provide ID to purchase alcohol, to apply for foodstamps, to get a license, to buy Sudafed, and even buy spray paint in some areas.

There was a report only yesterday that documented the ease in which someone was able to obtain ballots in the name of a dead person in district after district, due to no ID requirements. We must ensure the legitimacy of the process above all else, or we are no better than a 3rd world, banana republic.

If you are arguing that hundreds of thousands of registered voters cannot obtain an acceptable ID in the next 7 months, they are probably too incompetent to vote anyway. The reality is we have all heard the reporting that ACORN buses homeless people from precinct to precinct and gives them names to vote under. The Democrats want to regulate our lives in every way, except the way they get and keep power.

[occupy_cbs]

Surely you jest and have a terrible reading comprehension problem, since it's texas that has a history of voter discrimination, but don't let your hatred get in the way of a good story.

[Phxfire]

This 'report', was it by the Goldwater Institute or maybe paid for by santorum or arpio or maybe rush did it. Even Foxnews debunked that idea, reporting: "Several states adopted new laws last year requiring that people show a photo ID when they come to vote even though the kind of election fraud that the laws are intended to stamp out is rare.

Even supporters of the new laws are hard pressed to come up with large numbers of cases in which someone tried to vote under a false identify."
If that isn't irony, nothing is!!!!!


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/24/voter-id-laws-target-rarely-occurring-voter-fraud/#ixzz1pAc7ok3F

[WhiteDude]

Asia for Asians, Africa for Africans, White countries for everyone????????

Everybody says there is this RACE problem. Everybody says this RACEproblem will be solved when the third world pours into EVERY whitecountry and ONLY into White countries.

The Netherlands and Belgium are more crowded than Japan or Taiwan,but nobody says Japan or Taiwan will solve this RACE problem by bringingin millions of third worlders and quote assimilating unquote with them.

Everybody says the final solution to this RACE problem is for EVERYwhite country and ONLY White countries to "assimilate," i.e.,intermarry, with all those non-Whites.

What if I said there was this RACE problem and this RACE problemwould be solved only if hundreds of millions of non-blacks were broughtinto EVERY black country and ONLY into black countries?

How long would it take anyone to realize I'm not talking about a RACEproblem. I am talking about the final solution to the BLACK problem?

And how long would it take any sane black man to notice this and what kind of psycho black man wouldn't object to this?

But if I tell that obvious truth about the ongoing program ofgenocide against my race, the White race, Liberals and respectableconservatives will just say that I'm a naziwhowantstokillsixmillionjews.

They say they are anti-racist. What they are is anti-White.

Anti-racist is a code word for anti-White.

[birthrightcitizen]

Your choice of words is illuminating. When did we last
hear the phrase "the final solution" ? When you come for MY neighbor I WILL STOP YOU.

[thebob-bob]

What's with these nutjobs? Do they think the South won the Civil War? After they lost, they tried every trick in the book tp prevent anyone but white voters from voting. Poll taxes, literacy tests, Grandfather residency, citizenship tests, you name it. 100 years later the Federal government had to come back in and slap these throw-backs in the head and say NO! Everyone votes and you can't put up roadblocks if the result is that it prevents an eligible citizen from voting. Period! Now all the ex-Southern racists have joined the Republican party and since Nixon and Reagan have been beating the anti-Government drum and now Republicans have launched a full-out assault on voters-rights.

Why do Republicans hate Democracy??

[retiredgustav]

Sometimes I wonder if Texas is not a 3rd world country.

[tmittelstaed]

The problem is that Texas was admitted to the US by joint resolution of Congress which is not a legal act under international law. It is a legal act under US law.

It is an interesting trapdoor. Because the Republic of Texas was dissolved after the joint resolution was passed in 1845, there exists no legitimate government for the former Republic of Texas. Only a legitimate government of the Republic of Texas can bring a legal challenge to the joint resolution to the International Court of Justice, challenging the joint resolution. And Texas itself, nor any US citizen, can challenge the joint resolution in US court because annexation via joint resolution is legal under US law.

So even though a technicality in international law exists that would allow a foreign government to not recognize the legitimacy of Texas as a state of the US, no foreign government has made such a case.

Unfortunately, to most Texans, the nuances of the law are meaningless, and there is this feeling buried in Texas culture that somehow Texas isn't -really- a state of the US, and thus should be able to pick and choose what US laws it wants to follow.

As someone born in Texas I am exceedingly grateful to my parents that they moved out of Texas when I was under a year old.