Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. A federal judge ruled on Saturday that part of a Texas law that enacted new voting restrictions violated the U.

A portion of a controversial law championed by Texas Republicans as a supposed voter fraud deterrent was overly vague.

The ruling said Texas' ballot harvesting provisions were unconstitutional by being too vague, restricting free speech and violating the 14th Amendment

U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez found that a key part of the Texas 2021 omnibus voter legislation is confusing, vague, overly broad, violates freedom of speech along with the 14th Amendment and there is no actual problem of illegal vote harvesting.

A federal judge has ruled that parts of a sweeping Texas voter security law are unconstitutional, and the state can no longer investigate voter assistance efforts as a criminal act.