Lawyer tells Ted Cruz Texas has a racist voter ID law

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Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas was trained on Wednesday by experts on voter identification laws. A lawyer quickly noted that Texas’ voter identification law had been ruled racist in federal court. Cruz went back and forth with other experts during the hearing on different types of bills. Loading Something is loading.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas found himself in an unusual situation on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, giving a lawyer the opportunity to describe how the Texas Voter Identification Act can have racist results.

Franita Tolson, a law professor at the University of Southern California, was asked by Cruz if the voter identification laws were racist. She said a general statement like this is too simplistic, but that some identity requirements can have racist results depending on how the law is drafted.

Cruz then asked which voter ID laws were racist, and Tolson got a straightforward answer.

“My apologies, Mr. Cruz, your state of Texas maybe,” she said.

The Hill (@thehill) September 22, 2021

Tolson, who is also associate dean of faculty and academic affairs at USC, explained how a federal court in 2017 ruled that the Texas legislature enacted a strict voter identification law with the intent to discriminate. black and Hispanic voters in violation of section 2 of the law. Voting Rights Act, a finding upheld by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

“Okay, so you think the whole state of Texas is racist,” Cruz said. “And why is it racist to require ID to vote? “

“So I think, sir, that’s pretty reductive. I’m not saying that the whole state of Texas is racist, but” Tolson replied before Cruz interrupted him.

Tolson explained the district court’s decision before Cruz asked other panelists in the hearing if the voter ID laws are racist.

Two others agreed with Tolson’s response that laws can be written with racially discriminatory intent and results.

Voter ID laws have been quite popular among the American public in recent years, but it gets tricky when people are asked more questions about voting.

A Monmouth University poll in June 2021 found that 80% of Americans said they supported the requirement for photo ID to vote, but the same poll also found 71% said voting by mail should be easier, and only 37% said voter fraud is a “major problem”. in the USA.

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