Supreme Court Rejects Texas Appeal on Voter ID Law

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up an appeal that could reinstate a Texas voter ID law that a lower court found to have disproportionately restricted the black and Hispanic votes. In doing so, the SCOTUS upheld a July 2016 ruling that the legislation was discriminatory against minorities in Texas. The law, passed in 2011, required voters to present one of seven forms of identification, which could include a driver's license, a passport, or a concealed-carry license, but not a welfare benefit ID card. A 2016 ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the restrictions disproportionately prevented minorities from casting their votes.