Federal judge denies Ken Paxton's request to delay hearing on voter ID law

[TexasTowelie]

A federal judge has rejected Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's request to delay setting a date for a hearing on whether the state's voter ID law was enacted with the intent to discriminate.

U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos of Corpus Christi said Thursday that she will hold a hearing in January. Paxton had requested that a date be set no earlier than August 2017 to give the Legislature time to make changes to the state's law.

Lawyers for the civil rights groups that sued to overturn the ID law opposed the proposed delay, the Austin American-Statesman reports. They argued that it would allow "any number of local elections" to be held under a law intended to discriminate against minority voters, who are often less likely to have approved forms of identification.

The lawyers contended that there was no guarantee the Legislature would pick up the issue before the next session ends May 29. They suggested instead that Ramos hold a hearing shortly after the Nov. 8 general election.

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/headlines/20160825-federal-judge-denies-ken-paxton-s-request-to-delay-hearing-on-voter-id-law.ece

[Gothmog]

1. We need to have this hearing as soon as possible

The Texas GOP engaged in intentional discrimination

[TexasTowelie]

2. I think that the judge was very cognizant of the fact that

if the hearing was put off until next summer then the Legislature would fail to take action until the 2019 session. I look at this as another defeat for Paxton. I've lost count as to how many times Kenny Boy has lost motions and decisions, but I suspect that I might have better luck in the courtroom than he would despite my lack of legal training.

[Gothmog]

3. Judge rejects Ken Paxton’s go-slow approach on voter ID law

This is great news http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/judge-rejects-ken-paxtons-go-slow-approach-on-vote/nsMCW/

Rejecting a go-slow approach suggested by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a federal judge said Thursday that she will hold a January hearing on whether the state’s voter ID law was enacted with the intent to discriminate against minority voters.

Paxton had asked U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos of Corpus Christi to schedule the hearing no earlier than August 2017, saying the delay would give the Legislature an opportunity to correct flaws in the state’s voter ID law.

Lawyers for civil rights groups that sued to overturn the law objected to the requested delay, saying it would allow “any number of local elections” to be held under a law that they believe was intended to discriminate against minority voters, who are less likely to have the required forms of government-issued identification.

Adding that there was no guarantee the Legislature would act before the next session ends May 29, the lawyers suggested that Ramos hold a hearing days after the Nov. 8 general election.

Lawyers for the U.S. Justice Department also objected to any delays, suggesting a Jan. 9 hearing.

Paxton is hoping that the Texas legislature will come up with a fix sos the judge willl not find intentional discrimination