(Photo of U.S/ District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos is from The Victoria Advocate.)Last year, U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos found the Voter ID law passed by the Republican-dominated Texas Legislature was discriminatory to minorities -- and that the Republicans had INTENDED for the law to be discriminatory (to keep minorities away from the polls).
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld her judgment that the law was discriminatory, but sent to case back to her to re-examine whether the discrimination was intentional or not. She re-examined the accusation, and heard evidence from the state defending the law -- and now she has issued her opinion. That opinion once again ruled that not only was the Voter ID law discriminatory, but that it was intended to discriminate against minorities (who tend to vote for Democrats in large percentages).
The important part of this decision is whether Texas should once again be put under federal government supervision under the Voting Rights Act. That supervision was removed a couple of years ago when the Supreme Court ruled that there was no evidence that the states under supervision had not rectified their discrimination.
But this ruling shows there is now evidence that Texas has NOT stopped discriminating against minorities. In fact, it continues to intentionally discriminate. Texas should once again be supervised by the federal government on all matters regarding elections (and changes to any election laws). They have shown they still cannot be trusted to be fair to all voters.
Here is the concluding paragraph of Judge Ramos' decision:
