The Supreme Court began Monday hearing arguments in the controversial voter identification law. Texas state officials argue that having voters provide photo identification at the ballot will not deny Blacks and Latinos from voting.
CNN Contributor Roland Martin and Fmr. Spokeswoman for Rick Santorum Alice Stewart comes OutFront.
Texas voter ID law goes to court
Texas state officials went to federal court Monday to defend a controversial new voter identification law, dismissing suggestions the requirement would deny hundreds of thousands of people - many of them minorities - access to the ballot.
A weeklong trial kicked off in Washington before a special panel of three federal judges who will decide whether the law, known as SB 14, should be allowed to go into effect. It is one of several legal challenges to voter ID laws around the country.
A key enforcement provision of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 - known as Section 5 - gives the federal government open-ended oversight of states and localities with a history of voter discrimination. Any changes in voting laws and procedures in the covered areas must be "pre-cleared" with Washington. That provision was reauthorized in 2006 for another quarter-century.
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