Fifth Circuit Strikes Down Voter ID Law, Insists there’s no evidence lawmakers meant to suppress minority vote

In 2012, a federal court ruled that Texas's voter ID law violated Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act and stopped it from going into effect. However, in 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a critical component of the landmark civil rights law that had required states, like Texas, with a history of discrimination to get federal approval before making any major changes to state voting or election laws. Congressman Marc Veasey (D-Fort Worth) ultimately filed a lawsuit challenging the law (again) when then-Gov. Rick Perry declared that Texas's voter ID law could go into effect because of the SCOTUS ruling that gutted the VRA.