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On Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a formal request to a Texas court, asking to delay a hearing that would decide whether the state deliberately used discriminatory practices when enacting a voter ID law. The request came on the heels of Donald Trump being sworn into office. The DOJ wanted to delay the trial due to the shift in leadership, reports the Huffington Post:

“Because of the change in administration, the Department of Justice also experienced a transition in leadership. The United States requires additional time to brief the new leadership of the Department on this case and the issues to be addressed at that hearing before making any representations to the Court,” DOJ lawyers wrote. 

After the Supreme Court struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act in 2013, President Barack Obama’s Justice Department supported legal challenges to voting restrictions in places like Texas and North Carolina — with its eyes set on showing that the landmark civil rights statute still had some life left in it. Now that Trump has assumed the presidency, experts expect the department to reverse course.

The hearing was slated to take place on Tuesday, but the DOJ has asked for it to be put on hold for at least a month. On Friday, Trump’s transition team was at the Justice Department and over a dozen of his officials were reportedly sworn in, according to the Huffington Post.

SOURCE: Huffington Post

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