Speaker 1: And now it's time for our daily Bloomberg Law Brief,
Speaker 1: exploring legal issues in the news. Today, Bloomberg Law hosts
Speaker 1: Greg Store discusses a ruling by a federal judge in
Speaker 1: Texas at the state's voter identification laws are intentionally discriminatory
Speaker 1: towards black and Hispanic voters. He speaks to Josh Douglas,
Speaker 1: a professor at the University of Kentucky School of Law.
Speaker 1: This case has a long procedural history. I don't think
Speaker 1: we want to get get into all that, but tell
Speaker 1: us what is new about this this ruling from from
Speaker 1: Judge Ramas. What's new is that the judge here explicitly
Speaker 1: found that the state of Texas meant to discriminate against
Speaker 1: minority voters when passing the voter ide law. Now, the
Speaker 1: judge had found this previously, and it went up on
Speaker 1: appeal in the Fifth Circuit reversed and said you considered
Speaker 1: some evidence that you shouldn't have considered. So this ruling
Speaker 1: is the judge not considering that extra evidence and still
Speaker 1: finding that the state had discriminated against minority voters. Josh.
Speaker 1: Some people have have described the Texas law as the
Speaker 1: strictest in the nation. Um, do you agree with that,
Speaker 1: and if so, what what is different about the way
Speaker 1: the requirements for Texas in Texas for voter i das
Speaker 1: from other states that have voter ide laws. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: is one of the strictest, and and that goes to
Speaker 1: the requirements of what you can show and what your
Speaker 1: idea has to have. So in some states they allow you,
Speaker 1: if you don't have a photographic i D to sign
Speaker 1: an affidavit a testing under penalty of perjury that you
Speaker 1: are who you say you are. Other states allow you
Speaker 1: to use your student i D if you are have
Speaker 1: an idea from a public university. Texas doesn't than know
Speaker 1: any of that, at least under the law as it's
Speaker 1: enacted and as it's being considered. The last year of
Speaker 1: court did require to soften the law to allow more
Speaker 1: things like an affidavit requirement. Um, but as the loft
Speaker 1: stands and what the judges reviewing, it's very strict. You
Speaker 1: need a government issued photo identification that's not inspired. It
Speaker 1: can't be your student i D. Of course, interestingly, your
Speaker 1: gun license in Texast does count as an idea, but
Speaker 1: your publicly issued student i D doesn't. And so it's
Speaker 1: the types of forms that you need are very, very narrow,
Speaker 1: and that's what makes it the most strict in the nation.
Speaker 1: That is Josh Douglas, a professor at the University of
Speaker 1: Kentucky School of Law, speaking to Bloomberg Law host Craig Store.
Speaker 1: You can listen to Bloomberg Law weekdays at one pm
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