Voting Rights Groups Ask U.S. Supreme Court To Review Lawsuit Over Texas Voter Suppression Law

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Thursday, Feb. 23, two voting rights groups, Texas State League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and Voto Latino, filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to review a lawsuit challenging Texas voter suppression law Senate Bill 1111. The lawsuit from which today’s petition arises alleges that certain provisions of S.B. 1111 — which prohibit voters from registering to vote using a prior address after they moved, ban voters from registering to vote where they do not live full time and create stricter ID requirements for those registering to vote using a P.O. box — violate the First, 14th and 26th Amendments.

Back in August 2022, a federal district court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and blocked the first two provisions, as well as certain aspects of the third provision pertaining to registering to vote using a P.O. box, for being unconstitutional. Multiple Texas officials, including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), appealed this decision to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which reversed the lower court’s decision and dismissed the lawsuit after finding that the two organizations behind the lawsuit lacked standing (meaning capacity to bring a lawsuit in court) to sue over S.B. 1111, thereby ending Texas State LULAC and Voto Latino’s challenge to the law. 

In today’s petition for writ of certiorari, the petitioners do not ask the Supreme Court to review the merits of voter suppression law S.B. 1111; rather, they ask the Court to review the 5th Circuit’s decision concluding that the voter registration organizations behind the lawsuit challenging S.B. 1111 lacked standing. In particular, the petitioners argue that they have standing and that the 5th Circuit erred in holding the opposite. The petitioners refute the 5th Circuit’s decision by relying on a wealth of legal precedent to support their argument and ultimately ask the Court to accept the petition and reverse the 5th Circuit’s decision.

Following today’s petition for writ of certiorari, the respondents will submit an answer to the petition, after which the petitioners will then submit a reply brief in support of their petition. Once briefing pertaining to the petition is complete, it will be distributed for conference, meaning the Supreme Court will assess the petition and decide whether or not to accept it for full review on its merits docket. If the petition is ultimately accepted, the parties will submit further briefing and participate in oral argument before the Court. 

Read the petition here.

Read more about the case here.