(CBS NEWS) AUSTIN, Texas – A federal judge on Thursday likened Texas’ tough voter ID law to a poll tax meant to suppress minority voters and blocked Texas from enforcing it just weeks ahead of next month’s election, knocking down a measure the U.S. Justice Department condemned in court as deliberately discriminatory.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos of Corpus Christi is a defeat for Republican-backed photo ID measures that have swept the U.S. in recent years and have mostly been upheld in court.
And it wasn’t the only one. The U.S. Supreme Court also blocked Wisconsin from implementing a law requiring voters to present photo IDs.
