Texas Democratic Party Loses Summary Judgment Hearing on Preclearance and Texas Two-Step

You can find the order of the three-judge court here [corrected link]. The court concludes:

    Our decision does not mean that political parties must preclear every minute change in their operating procedures. Instead, we closely follow Morse in concluding that political parties must seek preclearance for a change that affects voting that the party promulgates under the explicit or implicit authority of a covered jurisdiction and that presents no significant First Amendment concerns. We therefore hold that Morse controls, that the TDP has provided no specific explanation as to how a requirement that it preclear its delegate allocation formula impacts its associational freedoms, and that this case is justiciable. Accordingly, we DENY the TDP’s motion for summary judgment.

Thanks to the readers who have sent this along.

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