AUSTIN — Texas is planning to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to restore its strict voter ID law after a lower court found the measure discriminates against minorities and ordered it weakened before the November election.

Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office said Tuesday it will appeal a July 20 ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals finding the law violated federal rules protecting against minority discrimination at the ballot box.

“To protect the integrity of voting in the State of Texas, our office will appeal the Voter ID ruling of the Fifth Circuit to the United States Supreme Court,” Paxton spokesman Marc Rylander said.

The decision by Texas to appeal to the Supreme Court comes as several Republican-controlled states with stringent voter ID rules continue wrestling with the courts ahead of the upcoming election.

Note: Texas has diluted its "strict" voter id law after the ruling that it violated federal law. Voters lacking required identification will be allowed to cast ballots by signing an affidavit.

A federal appeals court ruled last week to reinstate Wisconsin’s photo identification law after a lower court softened the measure to allow those without necessary ID to cast a ballot.

On Monday, North Carolina filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court requesting key parts of its law be reinstated for the November election after a federal appeals court found the measure intentionally sought to prevent African-Americans from voting.

Texas has not yet filed its appeal, and Paxton’s office declined to say when that will happen.

The Texas law was passed by the Republican-led Legislature in 2011, but was not used until 2013. It has since been implemented in three statewide elections, and November will mark the first time the measure will be used in a presidential election in Texas.

Supporters of the law have said it is necessary to prevent voter fraud. However, a federal court found that the law could have excluded as many as 600,000 voters who could not obtain one of seven required forms of identification.

In its July ruling, the entire 5th Circuit ordered a lower court in Corpus Christi to come up with temporary fixes ahead of November to ameliorate the law’s discriminatory effect.

U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos last week approved an interim remedy that was worked out between Texas and several minority groups suing the state. It allows for voters lacking required identification to cast a ballot by signing an affidavit and for the state to spend $2.5 million on a voter outreach program.

The settlement was viewed as a victory for minority groups since Texas agreed to substantially dilute what is considered the strictest voter ID law in the country.

Chad Ruback, appeals lawyer based in Dallas who has been following the voter ID case, said he wasn’t surprised by Texas’ decision to appeal. He said the state was likely waiting to see how Ramos would modify the law before filing an appeal.

“Texas might have been afraid based on how negotiations were going or smoke signals coming from the judge that if they didn’t agree to a deal, the judge’s order could have been even more extreme,” said Ruback. “The worst that will happen is the Supreme Court tells Texas ‘No.’”

Chad Dunn, a lawyer representing U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, and the League of United Latin American Citizens in the case, said the state’s appeal will lead to more taxpayer money being wasted on litigation. The state has spent around $3.5 million on legal fees related to its voter ID law.

"Every court that has reviewed this case,” Dunn said, “so far has ruled against Texas.”

drauf@express-news.net