SCOTUS "decision…to allow Texas' restrictive voter identification law to go into effect is deeply disturbing and simply wrong…"

...according to Professor Erwin Chemerinksy, dean of UC-Irvine School of Law. In this op-ed for The Orange Co. Register, Chemerinsky writes:

The Texas law, as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg noted Saturday, is “the strictest regime in the country.” Unlike other states, such as Wisconsin, Texas will not accept student identification from in-state universities or identification cards issued by Native American tribes or photo ID cards issued by the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs. Obtaining the permissible forms of identification requires obtaining a state-issued birth certificate for $22. The Supreme Court long ago ruled that a state cannot charge even a $1 fee for voting.

 

[U.S. District] Judge [Nelva Gonzalez] Ramos concluded that the effect of the Texas law will be that about 600,000 voters, primarily African American and Latino, will be kept from voting. Judge Ramos agreed with the U.S. Justice Department and the challengers that the Texas law violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 because it was enacted with a racially discriminatory purpose and would yield a prohibited discriminatory result.

 

[...]

 

There are so many things that are troubling about the court’s action. It is the first time in decades that the Supreme Court has allowed an election law to go into effect after a federal trial court found it to be unconstitutional race discrimination. Appellate courts, including the Supreme Court, are supposed to defer to the fact-finding by the trial courts. Here, the district court held a trial, engaged in extensive fact-finding and wrote a very detailed opinion.

 

Also, this continues a trend in recent weeks of the Supreme Court deciding which election systems can go into effect in unsigned orders without written opinions. The court, over four dissents, allowed Ohio to change its election system to limit early voting. In other unsigned orders, the court permitted a North Carolina law and prevented a Wisconsin law from going into effect.

 

A crucial aspect of the judicial process is that judges give reasons for their rulings. This explains the basis of the decisions to the litigants, provides guidance for lower courts and makes the rulings seem more than arbitrary exercises of power. Even though the court needed to act quickly, there is no reason why it could not write at least brief opinions explaining its decisions. Yet, the court decided that the Texas law could go into effect without offering the slightest explanation.

[h/t Election Law Blog]