Veasey v. Perry (Abbott): Fifth Circuit Motion to Expedite a Pending Appeal

The Veasey-LULAC Appellees hereby move the Court, pursuant to Fifth Circuit Local Rules 27.5 and 34.5, to expedite consideration of this appeal of a decision by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas striking down Texas’s voter ID law, SB 14 of 2011. For the reasons explained below, this Court should seek to resolve this appeal as promptly as possible in order to ensure that a constitutional system of voter identification is implemented for upcoming elections, including municipal elections scheduled in many Texas cities for May 9, 2015, 1 municipal elections scheduled in many other Texas cities for November 3, 2015, 2 and state and national primary elections scheduled in Texas for March 1, 2016. See App’x A (timeline of key upcoming Texas election dates). Pursuant to Local Rule 27.4, counsel for Veasey-LULAC Appellees have contacted counsel for Defendants-Appellants, who have indicated that Defendants-Appellants oppose this motion.