If only pride in everything being bigger in Texas applied to voter turnout. Instead, its political leaders persist in trying to be the Rhode Island of voter participation. Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton keep looking for creative ways to defend the discredited, turnout-suppressing voter ID law.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the friendliest court at its level that Abbott and Paxton could hope to find, ruled the ID law to be too discriminatory to remain in effect as is for the presidential election. The Fifth Circuit’s hard-right tilt is the only plausible explanation for why it didn’t find the discrimination to have been intentional. The cover story for why Texas felt the need for picture IDs — to prevent vote fraud — should have been enough proof of discriminatory intent because it is an indefensible crock of subterfuge. No one commits vote fraud by showing up in person to vote fraudulently — at least, no one that anyone can find.

The majority-Republican Legislature put a lot of effort into making it difficult and expensive for low-income registered voters who don’t drive — and who tend not to vote Republican — to obtain an ID that the state would accept. For example, the Legislature decided not to accept student or workplace IDs or expired driver’s licenses. Seriously, when does the person pictured on an expired license stop being the person pictured on the license? The Legislature ignored the obvious solution — putting photos on voter registration cards. The only discernible drawback to that solution is its lack of imposition on the card holder.

The Fifth Circuit referred the question of discriminatory intent back to District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos in Corpus Christi, along with instructions to implement a nondiscriminatory plan for the election. The plan ordered by Ramos allows voters who don’t have picture IDs to vote if they can show a voter registration card, birth certificate, government check stub, current utility bill or bank statement, or an expired driver’s license less than four years past expiration.

Paxton’s latest strategy was to threaten an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and seek to put off a hearing on discriminatory intent until summer. He has not filed the appeal or disclosed when he intends to do so. His premise was that the Legislature needed an opportunity to redo the ID law and the appeals process needed the time to play out.

Ramos was having none of it and decided to schedule a hearing for January. Good for her and for justice and democracy. This discriminatory law has been in effect since 2011. That’s five years of damage that can’t be undone. The best that can be done is to stop the damage it can do to the elections that lie ahead.

Earlier this month when Paxton’s office announced its intent to appeal to the Supreme Court, a spokesman for Paxton said the reason for appealing was “to protect the integrity of voting in the state of Texas.” It was never about that. It always has been about retaining power through suppression. If Texas leaders want to salvage a shred of integrity and decency, they should end this fight now. Unfortunately, that’s about as likely as finding someone trying to vote fraudulently in person.