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February 28, 2017

Justice Department Drops Objection to Discriminatory Texas Voter ID Law
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Trump's Justice Department has dropped part of its legal objection to
Texas's strict voter ID law, which appeals courts have ruled illegally
discriminates against blacks and Hispanics and violates the Voting
Rights Act. Obama's Justice Department had sued Texas as part of an
ongoing lawsuit against Texas's 2011 law, which created a list of IDs
required to vote that skewed heavily toward IDs carried by whites, such
as concealed carry permits, while excluding IDs often carried by people
of color, such as government employee IDs and public university IDs.
Obama's Justice Department claimed Texas had a discriminatory intent in
enacting the law. But under the direction of Trump's attorney general,
Jeff Sessions, the Justice Department has now dropped the discriminatory
intent claim. Sessions has long opposed the Voting Rights Act, and major
civil rights groups, including the NAACP, had protested his confirmation
as attorney general.


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