Score 1 for voting-rights advocates.
On Monday the Supreme Court of the United States refused to hear an appeal by Texas that sought to bring back the state’s strict voter-identification requirements, which had been found to disproportionately affect minorities, Reuters reports.
In July 2016, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the 2011 Texas statute conflicted with federal law that prohibits racial discrimination in elections. The court ordered a lower court to fix the way the law disproportionately affected minorities. The justices let that 2016 decision stand.
According to Reuters, there were no notable dissents from the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the case from any of the justices, but Chief Justice John Roberts issued a statement saying that the case was not taken up because of ongoing litigation in lower courts.
The appeals court had ordered a federal district court to look into claims that the law was actually intended to be discriminatory, and a hearing on that issue was scheduled for Jan 24. However, that hearing has since been delayed following a request from the Trump administration.
Read more at Reuters.