Supreme Court Throws Out D.C. Court’s Rulings Against Texas’ Voter ID Redistricting Bills

Texas Attorney General Because Texas is no longer subject to preclearance lower court’s rulings in preclearance cases are overturned Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the State of Texas and threw out judgments by a federal district court in D.C. that had denied federal preclearance of Texas’ voter ID and redistricting laws. Texas had appealed those judgments to the U.S. Supreme Court. Those judgments were vacated today because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Shelby County v. Holder that it is unconstitutional to require states like Texas to obtain advance approval from the federal government before election laws can take effect. The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling eliminates all of the lower court’s rulings and the findings made by the lower court against the State of Texas. The Texas voter ID law can go into effect. Similarly the redistricting maps passed by the Texas Legislature during the special session and signed into law by Governor Perry yesterday immediately go into effect. Like voter ID these maps will not need to go through the lengthy and costly federal preclearance process because of Tuesday’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in Shelby County.