Via NY Times:
A federal appeals panel ruled Wednesday that a strict voter identification law in Texas discriminated against black and Hispanic voters and violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — a decision that election experts called an important step toward defining the future reach of the landmark law.
The state of federal voting protections has been uncertain since 2013, when the Supreme Court blocked the act’s most potent enforcement tool, a requirement that numerous states, including Texas, with histories of discrimination receive federal clearance before changing election rules.