Federal Judge Bars Enforcement Of Texas' Voter ID Laws

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A federal judge on Wednesday issued a permanent injunction stopping Texas from enforcing its voter ID law or the more recent amendments to that law, finding that the changes made to the initial law were not enough to eliminate the laws' discriminatory purpose or effects.The litigation over Texas' voter ID law, SB 14, has been going on for several years, with courts repeatedly finding that the law was enacted with discriminatory purpose and or discriminatory effects.But June amendments to the law, contained in SB 5, led Texas to argue that a court decision against the law from earlier this year should be reconsidered.US District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos disagreed. " A large part of what makes SB 14 discriminatory—placing a disproportionate burden on Hispanics and African- Americans through the selection of qualified photo IDs—remains essentially unchanged in SB 5," she wrote.The Justice Department, reversing the position it held during the Obama administration, stopped backing the challengers to the voter ID law once Jeff Sessions became attorney general. In a late February filing, the department dismissed its claim it had been pursuing against the law.This is a developing story. Please check back at BuzzFeed News for the latest.

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