October 13, 2014 5:04 PM

Motions fly fast and furious in Voter ID case as it moves on to the 5th Circuit

State argues striking down law this close to election will cause voter confusion

Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office has moved to stay the decision of a federal judge in Corpus Christi federal who struck down the law as a de facto poll tax.

The state’s best arguments to maintain the Voter ID law are ones most won’t see because Abbott’s office has asked 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals to seal the state’s emergency injunction from public disclosure. The majority of the plaintiffs in the case – or the ones who could be reached by Saturday afternoon – agreed.

So there’s much to make of a single tantalizing sentence in the state’s motion to seal:

“The documents include confidential deposition transcripts and confidential email communications between Democratic members of the Texas Legislature and outside political organizations,” it said.

SCOTUS Blog’s redacted copy of the writ for the emergency stay was posted Monday morning. The filing notes confusion over application of the law and even manages to lay some of that blame with the media for reporting the law was struck down.

By Kimberly Reeves