{"content":[{"text":"Voter ID Still in Court Nearly Five Years Later \n On March 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit announced that it will consider en \n banc (i.e., all 15 of the justices will review a previous decision made by a three-judge panel) \n whether the Texas voter ID law discriminates in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act.","bbox":{"left":0.117686,"top":0.106108,"width":0.764667,"height":0.095599}},{"text":"That announcement from the Fifth Circuit is the latest development in an ongoing legal battle \n over the validity of the voter ID law. The following timeline summarizes some of the major \n events over the past five years:","bbox":{"left":0.117686,"top":0.216343,"width":0.7648110000000001,"height":0.05506100000000003}},{"text":"","bbox":{"left":0.147098,"top":0.287974,"width":0.009019,"height":0.018562000000000023}},{"text":"May 27, 2011 – Voter ID legislation (S.B. 14) was passed by the Texas Legislature and \n signed into law.","bbox":{"left":0.176503,"top":0.287253,"width":0.7056800000000001,"height":0.03748400000000002}},{"text":"","bbox":{"left":0.147098,"top":0.341345,"width":0.009019,"height":0.018562000000000023}},{"text":"March 12, 2012 – The U.S. Department of Justice refused to approve or “preclear” the \n voter ID law, stating that it could disenfranchise voters who are racial minorities.","bbox":{"left":0.176503,"top":0.340624,"width":0.705909,"height":0.037636}},{"text":"","bbox":{"left":0.147098,"top":0.39483,"width":0.009019,"height":0.018562000000000023}},{"text":"August 30, 2012 – A U.S. federal district court in Washington, D.C. ruled that the voter \n ID law violated Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. This decision was the end-result of a \n lawsuit filed by the state seeking preclearance in the D.C. district court.","bbox":{"left":0.176503,"top":0.394109,"width":0.706033,"height":0.05490900000000004}},{"text":"","bbox":{"left":0.147098,"top":0.465588,"width":0.009019,"height":0.018562000000000023}},{"text":"June 25, 2013 – The U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Shelby County v. Holder, \n which struck down the “preclearance” portion of the Voting Rights Act. As a result, \n federal preclearance for voting changes is no longer required for Texas, and the voter ID \n legislation took immediate effect.","bbox":{"left":0.176503,"top":0.464866,"width":0.7060040000000001,"height":0.07233299999999998}},{"text":"","bbox":{"left":0.147098,"top":0.553795,"width":0.009019,"height":0.018561999999999967}},{"text":"October 9, 2014 – A U.S. district judge in Corpus Christi struck down the Texas voter \n ID law under a different provision in the Voting Rights Act, concluding that the law: (1) \n creates an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote; (2) has an impermissible \n discriminatory effect against Hispanics and African-Americans; (3) was imposed with an \n unconstitutional discriminatory purpose; and (4) constitutes an unconstitutional poll tax.","bbox":{"left":0.176503,"top":0.553073,"width":0.7062490000000001,"height":0.089758}},{"text":"","bbox":{"left":0.147098,"top":0.659401,"width":0.009019,"height":0.018561999999999967}},{"text":"October 14, 2014 – The Texas attorney general appealed the district court’s decision and \n the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals “stayed” the district court’s opinion. The stay meant \n that the voter ID law remained in effect to avoid voter confusion in the November 2014 \n elections.","bbox":{"left":0.176503,"top":0.658816,"width":0.705706,"height":0.07219600000000004}},{"text":"","bbox":{"left":0.147098,"top":0.747621,"width":0.009019,"height":0.018561999999999967}},{"text":"October 18, 2014 – The stay was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which rejected an \n emergency request to prevent the voter ID legislation from going into effect for the 2014 \n November elections.","bbox":{"left":0.176503,"top":0.746899,"width":0.705849,"height":0.054908999999999986}},{"text":"","bbox":{"left":0.147098,"top":0.818378,"width":0.009019,"height":0.018561999999999967}},{"text":"August 5, 2015 – A three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously \n held that the Texas voter ID law has a “discriminatory effect” and therefore violates the \n federal Voting Rights Act. However, the court overturned the district court’s \n determinations that the law was enacted with a racially discriminatory purpose and \n constitutes an impermissible poll tax.","bbox":{"left":0.176503,"top":0.817657,"width":0.706367,"height":0.08975200000000005}},{"text":"2","bbox":{"left":0.495212,"top":0.917955,"width":0.009804000000000035,"height":0.020212000000000008}}],"images_bbox":[],"images_bbox_not_text_overlap":[]}