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The federal government will no longer be part of a challenge against Texas’ strict voter ID law, according to a voting rights group.
The Justice Department will soon be filing documents dropping its position that the law was adopted with discriminatory purpose, said Danielle Lang, deputy director of voting rights at the Campaign Legal Center.
The move comes a day before the law’s opponents were set to argue in federal court.
The Campaign Legal Center, along with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, has been challenging the 2011 voter ID law for six years alongside the Obama administration’s Justice Department. But the Trump administration will not continue that fight under the new Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
“After six years, DOJ will no longer pursue its discriminatory intent claim against the TX strict photo ID law. Why the change?” Lang said on Twitter, adding that the Justice Department under former Attorney General Loretta Lynch had filed more than 100 pages of evidence that the law had discriminatory intent.
“#Texas #voterID was discriminatory when it was passed, the appt of #sessions can’t change that fact, @CampaignLegal & partners will fight on,” Lang added in another tweet.
After six years, DOJ will no longer pursue its discriminatory intent claim against the TX strict photo ID law. Why the change? https://t.co/9njEsb5XZ3— Danielle Lang (@DaniLang_DC) February 27, 2017
The law, passed in 2011, requires voter present one of seven forms of government identification in order to cast a ballot, including drivers’ licenses, handgun licenses issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety, election ID certificates or personal ID cards issued by the DPS, military IDs, citizenship certificates or passports.
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals had blocked Texas from fully enforcing the law in the 2016 election.