Voting in Texas has never been easy.
However, on August 31, 2021, the Texas legislature made it even harder to vote by passing S.B. 1, an omnibus voter suppression bill.
Among other things, S.B. 1 makes it more difficult for voters who have limited English proficiency, disabilities, and/or less formal education to receive assistance with voting at the polling place, curbside, or by mail. S.B. 1 also takes aim at community and faith-based groups by criminalizing non-partisan voter turnout activities as “vote harvesting” and severely restricts election officials by creating a new state jail felony for providing mail ballot applications to eligible voters who do not request them. Additionally, S.B. 1 makes it more difficult for poll workers to preserve order and prevent violence at the polls by limiting their authority over partisan poll watchers. Finally, it represents a backlash against pro-voter innovations in Harris County by banning drive-thru and 24-hour voting.
Our Claims
On September 3, 2021, the Brennan Center and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund filed a federal lawsuit in the Western District of Texas, challenging S.B. 1 under the U.S. Constitution and other federal law on behalf of Friendship-West Baptist Church, the Anti-Defamation League, Texas Impact, La Unión Del Pueblo Entero (LUPE), Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, William C. Velasquez Institute, Texas Hispanics Organized for Political Education, Mexican American Bar Association of Texas, FIEL Houston, Jolt Action, Harris County Elections Administrator Isabel Longoria, and James Lewin. (Longoria and her claims were subsequently removed from the case and filed in a separate lawsuit, Longoria v. Paxton.)
Plaintiffs assert that S.B. 1 violates Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) because it limits voters’ ability to choose their assistors and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) because it denies equal access to the franchise for voters who have disabilities. Plaintiffs also claim that S.B. 1 violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments because S.B. 1's restrictions on “vote harvesting” criminalize protected speech and are overly broad and unconstitutionally vague. Plaintiffs also allege that S.B. 1’s new restrictions on poll workers violate the Fourteenth Amendment because they are unconstitutionally vague. Plaintiffs further allege that S.B. 1 creates an undue burden on the right to vote in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Finally, plaintiffs assert that S.B. 1 violates Section 2 of the VRA and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments because it was enacted to intentionally discriminate against minority voters.
Plaintiffs Friendship-West Baptist Church, Texas Impact, and Jim Lewin are represented by the Brennan Center and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.
Our lawsuit has been consolidated with five others: OCA-Greater Houston v. Esparza, Houston Area Urban League v. Abbott, LULAC Texas v. Esparza, Mi Familia Vota v. Abbott, and United States v. Texas.
On August 2, 2022, the district court denied almost entirely the state defendants’ motion to dismiss our second amended complaint, allowing most claims in the case to proceed. On August 30, 2022, the state defendants appealed the district court’s ruling to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeal has been fully briefed as of March 20, 2023, and the parties are awaiting the Fifth Circuit’s decision.
On August 17, 2023, the district court granted in part a motion for summary judgment on some other plaintiffs’ claims that S.B. 1’s ID requirements for mail ballot applications and mail ballot envelopes violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964’s materiality provision, which prohibits states from “deny[ing] the right of any individual to vote in any election because of an error or omission…if such error or omission is not material in determining whether such individual is qualified.” The court’s ruling fully resolved the United States’ claims. On December 1, 2023, the state defendants appealed the district court’s ruling to the Fifth Circuit. That appeal, as well as other appeals related to discovery and the scope of legislative privilege, are still pending before the Fifth Circuit.
A bench trial on most of the plaintiffs’ remaining claims began on September 11, 2023, and ended on October 20, 2023. On January 19, 2024, the parties filed their proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. Closing arguments are scheduled for February 13, 2024. There will be a second phase of trial on plaintiffs’ intentional discrimination claims after related appeals are resolved.
Documents
Western District of Texas
- Complaint (September 3, 2021)
- Amended Complaint (December 1, 2021)
- Second Amended Complaint (January 22, 2022)
- Order Granting in Part and Denying in Part State Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss the LUPE Plaintiffs’ Second Amended Complaint (August 2, 2022)
- Summary Ruling on Section 101 Materiality Claims and Order on Pretrial Briefings (August 17, 2023)
- Memorandum and Order Granting in Part and Denying in Part Motions for Summary Judgment Regarding Section 101 Materiality Provision Claims (November 29, 2023)
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (State Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss)
- State Defendants-Appellants’ Brief (December 9, 2022)
- Plaintiffs-Appellees’ Brief (February 8, 2023)
- State Defendants-Appellants’ Reply Brief (March 20, 2023)
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (Legislative Privilege)
- Third-Party Legislators-Appellants’ Opening Brief (June 20, 2023)
- Brief for Plaintiffs-Appellees (July 20, 2023)
- Third-Party Legislators-Appellants’ Reply Brief (August 24, 2023)
Related Blogs and Reports
- Sean Morales-Doyle, We’re Suing Texas Over Its New Voter Suppression Law, September 3, 2021
- Pastor Danielle Ayers, Faith Compels Us to Act Against Voter Suppression, October 25, 2021
- Kevin Morris and Coryn Grange, Records Show Massive Disenfranchisement and Racial Disparities in 2022 Texas Primary, October 20, 2022
- Leah Tulin and Gabriella Sanchez, Texas’s Voter Suppression Law Is On Trial, September 14, 2023
- Michael Waldman, Voter Suppression On Trial in Texas, September 28, 2023
- Kendall Karson, Trial Exposes Harms of Texas Voter Suppression Law, November 3, 2023