A federal appeals court has sided with the state of Texas in a major legal battle over election security, ruling Monday that the state may require voters applying to vote by mail to submit identification numbers that match existing records.

In a clear victory for voter ID laws and election integrity advocates, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the legality of the provision, which is part of Senate Bill 1, passed by Texas Republicans in 2021 in response to widespread concerns over the 2020 election process.

The Biden administration, joined by left-wing advocacy groups including the ACLU and the Democratic National Committee, sued to overturn the rule, arguing that requiring a voter to match an ID number — such as a driver’s license or Social Security number — with state records disenfranchises voters. The court soundly rejected that argument.

The three-judge panel concluded the requirement was “obviously designed to confirm that every mail-in voter is indeed who he claims he is,” and does not violate the Civil Rights Act.

Judge James Ho, writing the opinion, overturned a lower court decision from November 2023 that had temporarily blocked the measure. That court had claimed the requirement was “not material” to voter eligibility — a claim the Fifth Circuit dismissed without hesitation.

“We have no difficulty concluding that the law is compliant,” the panel wrote, restoring Texas’ authority to verify mail-in voters before ballots are counted.

The challenge stemmed from allegations that the state’s voter database contained inconsistencies. Plaintiffs cited over 60,000 mismatches as of early 2023. However, during oral arguments in February, not one of the judges questioned the Texas attorney general’s position, signaling early on that the court saw through the Biden DOJ’s case.

The ruling lifts the lower court’s injunction, which had been on pause since December 2023, and allows Texas to fully enforce its voter ID matching requirement during mail-in ballot applications — a key pillar of S.B. 1’s efforts to combat voter fraud.

Joining Judge Ho in the opinion were Judges Patrick Higginbotham and Don Willett, both of whom affirmed the constitutionality and commonsense nature of the requirement.

Plaintiffs included the ACLU Foundation, Disability Rights Texas, the Texas Civil Rights Project, the Biden Department of Justice, and the Democratic National Committee. Defendants included the Texas Attorney General’s Office, the America First Policy Institute, and law firm Jones Day.

The case is titled United States v. Paxton, 5th Cir., No. 23-50885, and was decided August 4, 2025.

Texas Pushes Back on Left-Wing Lawfare

On the same day the ruling was issued, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton backed a resolution in the Texas House calling for the arrest of Democrat lawmakers who fled the Capitol to obstruct Republican-led redistricting efforts — part of a growing pattern of Democrats abandoning their duties when they lose at the ballot box.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker (D), true to his progressive brand of grandstanding, offered political asylum to the fleeing Texas Democrats, declaring Sunday that Illinois would “do everything we can to protect every single one of them.”

“It’s Ken Paxton who doesn’t follow the law,” Pritzker falsely claimed at a press conference flanked by Texas Democrats. “They’re the ones that need to be held accountable.”

The lawmakers left Texas in an attempt to deny quorum — the minimum number of legislators required to conduct official state business — during a special session called by Republican Governor Greg Abbott.

While Democrats frame these maneuvers as resistance, critics say it’s nothing more than political sabotage aimed at obstructing a duly elected Republican majority from governing.