On October 14, the Fifth Circuit reversed a U.S. District Court in Texas and reinstated the Texas requirement that voters at the polls show certain types of government photo-ID in order to vote. Here is the order.

The decision is written by Judge Edith Brown Clement, a George W. Bush appointee, and signed by Judges Catharine Haynes, another George W. Bush nominee, and Gregg Costa, an Obama appointee. The rationale is that it is too close to the election to change anything. The order quotes from Williams v Rhodes, the 1968 U.S. Supreme Court opinion that put the American Independent Party on the Ohio ballot, as saying how difficult it is to re-print ballots as late as October 15. But it does not mention the U.S. Supreme Court order in Norman v Reed, putting the Harold Washington Party on the Cook County, Illinois ballot, only twelve days before the November 1990 election. In that case, the Court required Cook County to re-print 3,000,000 ballots.

It is somewhat likely that the voting rights groups who brought the Texas case will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the Fifth Circuit. Thanks to Justin Levitt for the link.