[JURIST] A Texas judge has filed a lawsuit in Dallas County in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals [official websites] challenging the state’s voter ID law [SB 14, text], claiming that it violates the Texas Constitution [text]. The law, which requires the showing of a photo ID in order to vote in elections, attempts to prevent voter fraud, while Judge Lawrence Meyers [official profile] argues [Texas Tribune report] that the state’s Constitution only gives the Texas legislature the power to detect and punish such fraud after it has occurred. The law, Meyers stated, it “legally unconstitutional” and “an affront to every voter in the state of Texas.” The Texas law has proven highly controversial [JURIST report] since its passage, with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] rejecting the law in 2012 while noting that it would have a disproportionate impact on the state’s Latino voters and is potentially discriminatory. This charge came only one month after Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez sent a letter on behalf of the DOJ claiming that the law violated Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act [text, PDF].

State voter ID laws [JURIST background] have been highly contested in dozens of US states in recent years. Rights groups argue that voter ID legislation is an attempt by conservatives to preserve their political power through voter suppression of minorities. Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia are just a few of the states currently embroiled [JURIST news archive] in litigation with state residents and civil rights advocacy groups over their voter ID legislation. Earlier this month those challenging Wisconsin’s voter photo identification law asked [JURIST report] the US Supreme Court to take emergency action and block the law before the November 4 election. In January Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett [official website] filed [JURIST report] a post-trial motion alleging that a Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court judge made critical mistakes in his analysis finding Pennsylvania’s voter ID law unconstitutional. Last November the Wisconsin Supreme Court [official website] agreed [JURIST report] to hear arguments in two cases regarding that state’s voter ID law, which was blocked in 2012 and then reinstated in May 2013. The Tennessee Supreme Court [official website] last October rejected [JURIST report] a movement to overturn that state’s voter ID law, unanimously upholding its constitutionality.