Voter ID

Texas AG Tells Janine Turner that SCOTUS Voting Rights Act Decision Is a ‘Huge Win for Equality’

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott responded to today’s Supreme Court decision striking down Section 4 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act by implementing Texas’ voter ID law. The Texas legislature had passed that law in 2011, only to have the Obama-Holder Justice Department put it on ice while challenging it under the Voting Rights Act.Appearing on the Janine Turner Show today, Abbott was jubilant.

“This is a huge win for the Constitution and for equality in this country,” Abbott said. “Before today, different states were treated differently under the Constitution. The Voting Rights Act is the only law that was used to impose disparate or different kind of treatment. Specifically, Texas was called out and treated differently than other states.”

Abbott noted that Indiana approved a voter ID law a few years ago and had that law upheld by the Supreme Court. But when Texas passed a nearly identical law in 2011, the Obama administration used the Voting Rights Act to block it.

“That just showed that they were using the Voting Rights Act law to treat Texas different from Indiana, and that was part of the backdrop behind today’s decision,” Abbott said. The court ruled today that that law was being used “unfairly, illegally, inappropriately, therefore it was unconstitutional,” Abbott said.

Democrats counter that voter ID laws like Texas’ address a problem that doesn’t exist. Abbott disagrees.

“I have prosecuted voter fraud across the state of Texas,” he told Turner. “Voter fraud is real in the state of Texas. It’s been real ever since LBJ won a disputed election for the United States Senate well over fifty years ago. And one of the ways to crack down on voter fraud is by requiring a photo [ID].” Abbott noted that the vast majority of Americans already have photo ID, and for those that do not, the state of Texas will provide one.

Attorney General Abbott also described the decision as a great decision for state sovereignty as well as for voting rights and the state of Texas.

Listen to the entire interview on the next page.