Updated at 5 p.m. with more reaction to the probe.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House oversight committee has launched a probe of Texas' botched attempt to purge its voter rolls.

"We are disturbed by reports that your office has taken steps to remove thousands of eligible American voters from the rolls in Texas and that you have referred many of these Americans for possible criminal prosecution for exercising their right to vote," Oversight and Reform Chairman Elijah Cummings wrote to acting Secretary of State David Whitley, Texas' chief elections official.

Jeff Mateer, first assistant Texas attorney general, said his office looks forward "to providing the committee with information that demonstrates our compliance with the law while ensuring free and fair elections."

Lawyers for some of the naturalized citizens who were erroneously included in Texas' investigation welcomed the congressional inquiry.

"The lies about imagined voter fraud put out by the State of Texas and mindlessly repeated by Donald Trump were designed to intimidate Latino voters and suppress democracy," said Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. "This ham-fisted attempt to deter Latino voter participation will not work; the political reckoning for those who repeatedly and openly discriminate against Latinos is rapidly approaching."

On Jan. 25, the state notified counties that about 95,000 registered voters may not be U.S. citizens and instructed elections officials to investigate their voting eligibility and cancel their registrations within 30 days unless they proved their citizenship.

Within days, the state admitted that tens of thousands of the names had been flagged in error. Several lawsuits followed, from citizens erroneously included in the list and from voting advocacy groups. A few weeks later, a federal judge ordered the state to halt the purge to avoid the removal of any citizen from the voter rolls.

But an uproar had already ensued.

The secretary of state's office said about 58,000 of the voters may have cast ballots at least once since 1996 — which would be illegal if they were not U.S. citizens. Whitley's office referred that list to state Attorney General Ken Paxton for further investigation and potential prosecution.

President Donald Trump pointed to the claims as evidence of "rampant" voter fraud involving undocumented immigrants.

58,000 non-citizens voted in Texas, with 95,000 non-citizens registered to vote. These numbers are just the tip of the iceberg. All over the country, especially in California, voter fraud is rampant. Must be stopped. Strong voter ID! @foxandfriends — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2019

But the state later admitted in court that more than 20,000 Texans who had already proved their citizenship to the Texas Department of Public Safety had been included on the purge list. Noncitizens are eligible for driver's licenses in Texas and can lawfully register to vote once they have become naturalized.

Voting rights groups and Latino advocacy groups say the purge was an attempt at voter suppression, aimed mostly at Latinos, who tend to support Democrats.

"Texas must answer for attempting to strip naturalized citizens of their right to vote," said Andre Segura, legal director for the ACLU of Texas, which has challenged the voter purge in court.

Segura lauded the congressional probe and condemned Whitley for "creating an environment of fear and misinformation."

Cummings and Rep. Jamie Raskin, both Maryland Democrats, sent letters to Whitley and Paxton demanding details. Raskin chairs the subcommittee on civil rights and civil liberties. The oversight panel has broad investigative authority.

At a contentious state Senate hearing last month, Whitley objected to the term "purge" and would not admit that errors were made in the initial lists sent to counties.

Gov. Greg Abbott appointed Whitley in December, but he is subject to confirmation by the Texas Senate. Texas Democrats have enough clout in that chamber to block Whitley's confirmation and have said publicly they will do so. Abbott's office remains "100 percent" behind Whitley.

The Senate has until the end of the legislative session May 27 to confirm Whitley.

'Throwing away your umbrella'

Until 2013, the state would have had to seek permission from the Justice Department before implementing a sweeping purge of voter rolls.

Then the U.S. Supreme Court struck down key provisions of the Voting Rights Act in the landmark Shelby vs. Holder case.

The high court, on a 5-4 vote, ruled that after five decades, it no longer made sense to require federal scrutiny of states with an aging history of discrimination. Southern states, including Texas, had been forced to submit to federal "preclearance" since the 1960s to change any elections procedures, including changes to polling sites and district boundaries.

The court tossed out the formula by which jurisdictions could be identified for federal scrutiny, and Congress had not created a new one. Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, ruled that preclearance would be reapplied "based on current conditions" and not on decades-old practices.

Civil rights violations can be investigated and punished after the fact.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who wrote the dissent on behalf of the court's liberal wing, warned that defanging the Voting Rights Act in this way would invite abuse.

"Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet," she wrote.

On the same day the House began its inquiry, a federal court in San Antonio scheduled a May hearing for arguments on whether Texas should be placed back under preclearance for repeatedly discriminating against minority voters by changing state election laws.

If the three-judge panel decides to do so, Texas would be the first state brought back under preclearance since the Shelby ruling.

Court in Texas redistricting case sets hearing for 5/2 on requests to put Texas back under preclearance coverage.



At same hearing, court will hear argument about redrawing of HD 90 in Tarrant Co (found by ct to be racial gerrymander). https://t.co/ejD8DqzkX6 #fairmaps #txlege pic.twitter.com/ByXFVxv1NS — Michael Li 李之樸 (@mcpli) March 28, 2019

Democrats seeking the 2020 presidential nomination have vowed to reverse the Shelby ruling, and Democrats in Congress have likewise been pushing to reinstate the key Voting Rights Act provisions.

"Civil rights advocates have struggled in our fight for justice since the Supreme Court's ruling in Shelby County v. Holder gutted the Voting Rights Act, and racial minorities in this state have faced some of the worst voter suppression in the nation under Republican one-party rule," state Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, an Austin Democrat and the policy chairman of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, said Thursday after learning of the House inquiry.

"With time, the nation will learn the truth about such partisan allegations of voter fraud," he said.