The Texas Voter ID law is back in force.
By a 2-1 vote, a Fifth Circuit federal appeals court panel in New Orleans stayed a previously issued injunction against the law.
In the six-page majority opinion, Circuit Judges Jerry Smith and Jennifer Walker Elrod suggested that the state made a strong case.
“The State has made a strong showing that it is likely to succeed on the merits,” reads a joint order from Smith and Elrod. “SB 5 allows voters without qualifying photo ID to cast regular ballots by executing a declaration that they face a reasonable impediment to obtaining qualifying photo ID. This declaration is made under the penalty of perjury.
“The State has made a strong showing that this reasonable-impediment procedure remedies plaintiffs’ alleged harm and thus forecloses plaintiffs’ injunctive relief.”
Democrats, of course, hate the Texas voting ID law because it prevents the voter fraud they rely on, which is the same reason they seek to block President Donald Trump’s election panel from reviewing state voting rolls.
The next level of appeal for Democrats seeking a stay of the law would be to seek an en banc hearing of the entire Fifth Circuit. Since Republican-appointed judges have a six seat majority on the Fifth Circuit, success at that level is unlikely, with any ruling setting the stage for a possible Supreme Court appeal. At this stage, it is unlikely (thought not impossible) that the Supreme Court would agree to hear the case in time for the 2018 midterm elections.