By MANNY FERNANDEZ and ERIC LICHTBLAU FEB. 27, 2017
The Republican-led Texas Legislature passed one of the strictest voter ID laws in the country in 2011, requiring voters to show a driver’s license, passport or other government-issued photo ID before casting a ballot.
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Opponents of the law said Republican lawmakers selected IDs that were most advantageous for Republican-leaning white voters and discarded IDs that were beneficial to Democratic-leaning minority voters.
But the Justice Department under President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions sought on Monday to drop the claim that Texas enacted the law with a discriminatory intent, according to lawyers for the minority groups and voters who also sued Texas and are the Justice Department’s fellow plaintiffs in the case.
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The Justice Department would be essentially dropping its accusation that the state was motivated by racial bias in enacting the voter ID law, but preserving its claim that the law had a discriminatory impact on minority voters, the lawyers said.
The Justice Department remains a party in the case but will most likely play a smaller role.
The case will proceed, because the numerous parties that sued Texas — including voters, elected officials, civil rights organizations and black and Hispanic advocacy groups — will continue the lawsuit.
Justice Dept. Drops a Key Objection to a Texas Voter ID Law
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