Justice Department sues Texas over new voting restrictions

The Biden administration on Thursday sued Texas over new voting laws that outlasted a summer of dramatic protests by Democrats.

The Biden administration on Thursday sued Texas over new voting laws that outlasted a summer of dramatic protests by Democrats, who face fading hopes of overhauling the nation's elections in response to a wave of restrictive new rules in Republican-led states.

The lawsuit itself was expected. What is noteworthy is that the lawsuit is narrowly crafted, targeting specific aspects of the new law.

Chad Ruback is an appellate attorney not involved in the case.

"It's relatively short as far as federal lawsuits go," he said. "I believe the DOJ filed a simple, laser-focused lawsuit on purpose, gave this a lot of thought and picked the two provisions in SB 1. The new Texas law that the DOJ felt were most vulnerable for attack."

The lawsuit does not challenge the entirety of a sweeping measure signed in September by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, which already has some of the nation's toughest voting rules. It instead targets provisions surrounding mail-in voting requirements and voter assistance, which the Justice Department argues violate federal civil rights protections.

"Our democracy depends on the right of eligible voters to cast a ballot and to have that ballot counted," Attorney General Merrick Garland said. "The Justice Department will continue to use all the authorities at its disposal to protect this fundamental pillar of our society."

The DOJ argues changes to the law around people who need assistance voting violates the Voting Rights Act.

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The lawsuit also argues the new Texas law "requires" mail-in ballots to be rejected if there are errors that have nothing to do with a person’s qualification to vote, violating the Civil Rights Act.

Ruback says if the federal government is successful, only those two provisions would be struck down.

"It appears to me that this was a strategic decision on the part of the DOJ to challenge the portions of SB 1, the DOJ that the federal government found were most likely to be held illegal by a federal judge."

Gov. Abbott on Thursday responded to the challenge, tweeting in part: "Bring it. The Texas Election Integrity Law is legal."

Ruback says legally the DOJ could amend its complaint to target other provisions, but he thinks at this point that would be unlikely.

The new law expands early voting but bans 24-hour and drive-through voting that was started a year ago during the pandemic.

Opponents of the Texas law had already sued the state, accusing Republicans of setting out to disenfranchise minorities and other Democratic-leaning voters.

Abbott and other Texas Republicans say the changes provide safeguards against voter fraud, which is rare.

The legislation in Texas set off a summer of walkouts by Democrats, Republicans threatening them with arrest, and Abbott vetoing the paychecks of thousands of rank-and-file staffers when the bill failed to reach him sooner.

At one point, more than 50 Democratic lawmakers decamped to Washington, bringing the Texas Capitol to a grinding halt for 38 days.

Democrats had hoped to pressure Congress into passing new voting rights protections at the federal level. Both those efforts have stalled, including another attempt Wednesday.

Other GOP states also rushed to pass more restrictive elections laws following the 2020 election and President Donald Trump's false claims that it was stolen. Trump has called on Abbott to audit the election results in Texas, even though he won the state.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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