Feds rescind opposition to key part of Texas voter ID law

By DAVID SALEH RAUF
Feb. 27, 2017 6:19 PM EST

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department said Monday it is abandoning its longstanding opposition to a key aspect of Texas' toughest-in-the-nation voter ID law, costing voting rights groups their most important ally and possibly encouraging other conservative states to toughen their own election rules with President Donald Trump in charge.

It's a dramatic break from the agency's position under President Barack Obama, which spent years arguing that the voter ID law passed in 2011 by Texas' Republican-controlled Legislature was intended to disenfranchise poor and minority voters.

"It's a complete 180," said Danielle Lang of the Washington-based Campaign Legal Center. "We can't make heads or tails of any factual reason for the change. There has been no new evidence that's come to light."

The law requires voters to show one of seven forms of state-approved photo identification — gun permits are acceptable but college IDs are not. Voting rights activists sued, and the case returns to court Tuesday in Corpus Christi, Texas, before U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos.

Justice Department spokesman Mark Abueg said that although the Justice Department will no longer argue that the law was intended to discriminate against minorities, it doesn't plan to withdraw from a portion of the lawsuit that argues that the law had the effect of discriminating against them.

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