Voting is a fundamental right. People with disabilities should have the same access and opportunities to have their voices heard as all other eligible individuals. However, disabled voters often face discriminatory barriers when exercising their right to vote, in violation of state and federal laws. CPR is protecting voters with disabilities from harmful voter suppression tactics, including by participating in selected litigation to challenge state laws that infringe on voter access, such as La Union del Pueblo Entero (LUPE) v. Abbott, a challenge to Texas’ voter suppression law, S.B.1.
In 2025, CPR and the law firm WilmerHale filed an amicus brief in support of the right to voter assistance for people with disabilities in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, joined by 15 other disability rights organizations. The trial court had found that S.B.1 violates the rights of disabled voters, forcing them to vote without needed assistance to which they are entitled under the Voting Rights Act Section 208, or forgo voting altogether. The state appealed and the appellate court found in their favor, concluding that plaintiff organizations did not have standing to bring Section 208 claims against most of the challenged provisions of S.B.1.
CPR then joined the co-counsel team in the same case to defend the trial court’s decision concluding that S.B. 1 violates the rights of disabled voters under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The trial court found, after a six-week trial, that the state had failed to make reasonable modifications to avoid discrimination and “[a]s a result, voters with disabilities have experienced multiple mail ballot rejections and experienced humiliation, the loss of their privacy, and physical pain while voting.” CPR and co-counsel filed their opposition brief in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on November 21, 2025.