A federal court has blocked a controversial new Texas voter ID law, asserting that “the state failed to show that the law would not harm the voting rights of minorities.”

Texas is just one of many states that have tried to pass voter ID laws that many – including activists and the Justice Department – believe will disenfranchise minority voters.

Proponents of the laws argue that they are needed to combat voter fraud. But on Thursday, the three-judge panel hearing the case were not convinced.

From the Washington Post:

“Evidence submitted by Texas to prove that its law did not discriminate was ‘unpersuasive, invalid, or both,” wrote David. S. Tatel, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, in the panel’s 56-page opinion.

The ruling will likely have political implications in the coming elections. Republicans and Democrats have been arguing over whether increasingly tough voter ID laws discriminate against African Americans and Hispanics.

Texas Attorney General Gregg Abbott said that the state will appeal Thursday’s ruling to the Supreme Court, which is the next stop in a voting rights case.

‘Today’s decision is wrong on the law and improperly prevents Texas from implementing the same type of ballot integrity safeguards that are employed by Georgia and Indiana — and were upheld by the Supreme Court,’ Abbott said in a statement.”

Read more at WashingtonPost.com

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