The latest in a string of rulings limiting the GOP’s war on voting has come down. A federal court has unanimously stopped Texas from instituting a voter ID law. While this would seem contradictory to the Supreme Court’s upholding of voter ID for Indiana in 2009, this case is different because it follows the Justice [...]

Another court case is taking a run at the Voting Rights Act’s Section 5, which gives the Justice Department pre-clearance authority over any voting law changes in states with a history of racial discrimination. We already saw Section 5 upheld when a federal court struck down the Texas redistricting maps because of their discriminatory and [...]

A federal court has thrown out Texas’ redistricting plan, charging that it was discriminatory to minority voters. DC Circuit Judge Thomas Griffith ruled that the court would not pre-clear Texas’ map under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. “We conclude that Texas has failed to show that any of the redistricting plans merits preclearance,” [...]

An important case opened yesterday in Washington, where Texas is challenging the pre-clearance provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act in an effort to institute a voter ID law in the state. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals is holding a remarkable five days of hearings on the case. The Justice Department blocked Texas’ voter [...]

The Supreme Court just boosted Republican chances to hold the House of Representatives today by throwing out maps drawn by a panel of judges, and ordering new maps for the state’s reapportionment. To step back a bit, initially Texas lawmakers drew a redistricting map that advantaged Republicans and created no new Hispanic districts, despite the [...]