The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has squashed a district court’s ruling in a lawsuit filed over Texas’ election integrity law that went into effect in September 2021.
Before the Fifth Circuit ruled, the district court issued another ruling to block another provision of the law, less than one week before early voting begins on Oct. 21...
...In his nine-page ruling, Ho said, “On the eve of elections in Texas, the district court has entered an injunction that impacts how ballots can be handled. It holds unconstitutional a law that has been on the books for over three years, but that the court did not see fit to enjoin until now. The Supreme Court has instructed lower courts not to unduly delay ordering changes to election law until the eve of an election. … We accordingly grant the State’s request for a stay of the injunction pending appeal.”
The ruling also allows the OAG to investigate allegations of election law violations.
The Fifth Circuit judges chastised Rodriguez’s ruling and timing for issuing it. Ho notes that the lawsuit was filed in August 2021 “but it was not until Sept. 28, 2024, three weeks before voting begins in Texas – and almost three years after the law went into effect – that the district court enjoined Defendants from enforcing the vote harvesting provision of S.B. 1.”
Ho’s ruling cites several U.S. Supreme Court decisions, which held that federal courts issuing injunctions in state lawsuits close to an election will likely “confuse voters, unduly burden election administrators, or otherwise sow chaos or distrust in the electoral process;” and “Late judicial tinkering with election laws can lead to disruption and to unanticipated and unfair consequences for candidates, political parties, and voters, among others.”
https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/fifth-circuit-squashes-district-court-ruling-texas-election-law-blocks-----------
They should have yanked Rodriguez from the bench for blatant election interference.
