SAN ANTONIO - A federal court ruled Saturday against a key provision of Texas’ anti-voter law Senate Bill 1 in a victory for voting rights in the state.
The lawsuit challenged numerous provisions of the bill, including its restriction of compensated canvassers from engaging in voter advocacy near mail-in-ballots. That provision was found to violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments for being unconstitutionally vague, overly broad, and restricting free speech. Other parts of the case remain pending before the court.
This ruling comes after a six week trial last October. The state has announced plans to appeal at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and will likely seek a stay of the decision while the appeal plays out.
This latest decision follows an August 2023 win in this case where the district court ruled that the mail-ballot ID-matching provisions of Senate Bill 1 violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The groups await the court’s findings on whether the same provisions of the law, as well as the bill’s expanded Oath of Assistance, violate the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 — along with if S.B. 1’s limitations on compensated mail-voting assistance violate Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act. This decision also follows a separate and successful 2022 challenge to S.B. 1’s limitations on the type of assistance that may be rendered to limited-English speaking and disabled voters.
The lawsuit was filed in 2021 on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Texas, Register, Educate, Vote, & Use your Power - Texas (REV UP Texas), and OCA Greater Houston. The plaintiffs are represented by the Texas Civil Rights Project, American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Disability Rights Texas, and the law firm Jenner & Block LLP.
The following statements are from the plaintiffs:
“We are celebrating this successful outcome. S.B. 1’s canvassing restrictions chilled all of our civic engagement activities that prior to S.B. 1 had benefited hundreds of voters in our community in each election. We even feared criminal consequences just giving Gatorade and water to hydrate our canvassers working in the Texas heat of a hundred degrees or more,” said Deborah Chen (she/her), OCA-GH’s civic engagement programs director. “One of our missions is to educate and develop a pool of leaders, not to expose our student volunteers to criminal charges.”
“LWV of Texas is energized by this ruling,” said Joyce LeBombard (she/her), president of the League of Women Voters of Texas. “Voter engagement is part of LWV's core work — helping voters make their voices heard. As we testified at trial, this provision would have criminalized voters and League members for being engaged in routine voter outreach. Voters, especially those with disabilities and first-time voters, rely on the services of groups like the League to participate in our democracy.”
“Laws that stand in the way of the freedom to vote are intolerable and rightly prohibited in our democracy,” said Celina Stewart (she/her), CEO of the League of Women Voters of the United States. “Texas voters must not be silenced by unnecessary laws that restrict vital voter engagement. We are pleased that this ruling that unfairly criminalized our civic engagement work was struck down so that Texans can make their voices heard.”
The following statements are from the litigation team:
“This ruling affirms what we have known all along: It is unconstitutional for state leaders to criminalize organizers in Texas for getting out the vote when a mail ballot may be present,” said Savannah Kumar (she/they), staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas. “Weeks of powerful testimony by our clients led the court to conclude that this provision of Senate Bill 1 is unconstitutionally overbroad, vague, and an unconstitutional restriction on free speech. We are optimistic that the law’s other harmful changes will be struck down as well. Democracy cannot thrive when civic engagement is criminalized, and this decision affirms that Texans have the right to talk with their neighbors about politics without fearing being locked up.”
“This ruling is a major victory for voting rights in Texas and a testament to our clients’ relentless commitment to Texans and to our democracy,” said Dayton Campbell-Harris, staff attorney (he/him), ACLU Voting Rights Project. “The law criminalized and severely restricted people’s interactions with voters and GOTV efforts: something Texas should encourage, and not try to stop.”
“Yet another Texas measure to address a manufactured “voter fraud” threat has been exposed for what it is, an unconstitutional and crass attempt to criminalize fundamental voting rights,” said Susana Lorenzo-Giguere (she/her), associate director for democracy at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. “The court also explicitly chided Texas’ failure in basic common courtesy to voters, many of whom are elderly Asian Americans with limited English ability, who brought their mail-in ballots to our clients’ community meetings with questions about the voting process and seeking assistance.”
“We are incredibly pleased with the federal court’s ruling. This is a significant step towards ensuring equal access to voting, a foundation of our democracy,” said Jessica Ring Amunson (she/her) and Alex Trepp (he/him), partners at Jenner & Block. “We are proud to partner with co-counsel on this important work to protect the right to vote.”
“This ruling is a major triumph in our fight to protect voting rights in Texas,” said Rochelle Garza (she/her), president of the Texas Civil Rights Project. “By striking down these unconstitutional restrictions, the Court has made it clear: voter suppression has no place in our democracy. With Election Day approaching, this decision will make it easier for Texans to vote without fear of being punished. At the Texas Civil Rights Project, we will keep pushing back against these harmful anti-voter laws to protect the basic right that belongs to everyone—the right to vote.”
“This provision of S.B. 1, which the district court rightfully dubbed ‘the canvassing restriction,’ served no purpose but to illegally suppress core political speech under threat of criminal prosecution,” said Zach Dolling (he/him), senior supervising attorney, Voting Rights Program at the Texas Civil Rights Project. “This victory is a powerful repudiation of Texas’s unconstitutional restriction of our clients’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. As a result, community organizers like our clients and their members can again engage in the canvassing, voter assistance, and other protected activities that S.B. 1 had forced them to cease.”
Access the court order here: https://www.aclutx.org/sites/default/files/doc._1157_fofcol_7.04_claims.pdf
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The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas works with communities, at the State Capitol, and in the courts to protect and advance civil rights and civil liberties for every Texan, no exceptions. With offices across the state, the organization focuses on six core issue areas: Border and Immigrants’ Rights, Free Speech and Pluralism, LGBTQIA+ Equality, Reproductive Freedom, Smart Justice, and Voting Rights and Democracy. Established in 1938, the ACLU of Texas is an independent affiliate of the national ACLU.
For more than 100 years, the ACLU has worked in courts, legislatures, and communities to protect the constitutional rights of all people. With a nationwide network of offices and millions of members and supporters, the ACLU takes on the toughest civil liberties fights in pursuit of liberty and justice for all.
About the League of Women Voters of Texas: The League of Women Voters is one of America’s oldest and most trusted civic nonprofit organizations. Formed in 1919, the Texas League represents more than 13,500 grassroots advocates and 34 local Leagues across the state. The League never supports or opposes candidates for office or political parties. The League encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government. The League also seeks to influence public policy through education and advocacy. Membership is open to people 16 years and older. Learn more about the League of Women Voters of Texas at LWVTexas.org.
The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), a New York-based national organization founded in 1974, protects and promotes the civil rights of Asian Americans. By combining litigation, advocacy, education, and organizing, AALDEF works with Asian American communities across the country to secure human rights for all. AALDEF focuses on critical issues affecting Asian Americans, including immigrant rights, voting rights and democracy, economic justice for workers, educational equity, housing and environmental justice, and the elimination of anti-Asian violence.
Disability Rights Texas is the federally designated legal protection and advocacy agency (P&A) for people with disabilities in Texas established in 1977. Its mission is to help people with disabilities understand and exercise their rights under the law, ensuring their full and equal participation in society.
OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates is a national social justice organization of community advocates dedicated to improving the social, political, and economic well-being of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs). Learn more about our work at ocanational.org/about.
Jenner & Block LLP is a law firm with global reach, with offices in Century City, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. For decades, Jenner & Block lawyers have been involved in landmark election law cases, defending access to the ballot. We have represented voters, voting rights organizations, and elected officials in fighting to protect the right to vote.
The Texas Civil Rights Project is boldly serving the movement for equality and justice in and out of the courts. We use our tools of litigation and legal advocacy to protect and advance the civil rights of everyone in Texas, and we partner with communities across the state to serve the rising movement for social justice. We undertake our work with a vision of a Texas in which all communities can thrive with dignity, justice and without fear.