Contentious Uncoupling
Plus: Outside of DC drama, AGs fight for the Voting Rights Act. 🗳️
- Nineteen attorneys general filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, urging the court to uphold private enforcement of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. State officials are asking the court to reconsider a ruling that disallowed voters and organizations from suing to enforce the 1965 landmark federal law.“This leaves those suffering from voting discrimination without a voice in their own defense,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a statement. “I am proud to stand with my colleagues in protecting the fundamental right to vote.
- A federal judge is demanding the Trump administration take steps toward ensuring 140 Venezuelan immigrants are given due process after they were deported to El Salvador in March. President Trump has invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a rarely used wartime law, to justify the deportations that were conducted without hearings.The Trump administration “plainly deprived” them of their rights, wrote Judge James Boasberg in an opinion. He added that many of those detained “languish in a foreign prison on flimsy, even frivolous, accusations.”
➡️ READ: Sharing the Facts About the Alien Enemies Act
- The Trump administration agreed to return a Guatemalan man back to the U.S. after he was deported to Mexico without a hearing. This is the first time the Trump administration has followed a court order that demanded the return of a person who was deported without due process.
- Trump’s fiscal 2026 budget proposal would lead to $495 million in cuts to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). The cuts would lead to the elimination of 1,083 positions. Many of those positions support local cyber and physical security exercises and election security.
➡️ READ: Sharing the Facts About CISA
State of the States
In California, a U.S. District Court judge dismissed a lawsuit from Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta challenging Trump’s tariffs. The judge ruled that the case should be dealt with in a different, New York-based court that specializes in trade disputes.
By dismissing the case on jurisdictional grounds, the judge left the door open for California to appeal the ruling to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. California is claiming the president does not have the authority to unilaterally impose tariffs.
➡️ READ: Sharing the Facts About the Limits of Presidential Power on Tariffs
In Arizona and Wisconsin, the U.S. Department of Justice sent letters to top state election officials, claiming they are violating the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). The heads of the Civil Rights Division said the Wisconsin Elections Commission is not following a required complaint process outlined in HAVA and should therefore be deprived of federal funding.
“I’m really not sure what it is they’re threatening to withhold from us, since there is no money being allocated in the budget for grants to the state, either for election security or election equipment or any of those things,” Ann Jacobs, the chairwoman of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Federal officials accused Arizona officials of not doing enough to verify the identities of voters, also in violation of HAVA; Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes pushed back on those claims.
➡️ READ: Sharing the Facts About Federal Overreach of States’ Authority to Administer Elections
In Illinois, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case challenging a state law that allows local officials to count mail-in ballots received up to 14 days after the election if they are postmarked by Election Day. The lawsuit, which a congressman and two voters filed in 2022, argues the policy violates federal law establishing Election Day. The high court will determine whether the plaintiffs have standing to argue the merits of their claims.
Recommended Reading
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison wrote an op-ed in The Hill this week highlighting the president’s continued attacks on the rule of law, including targeting law firms with which he disagrees, institutions of higher education, and the independence of Congress.
“And when the executive branch oversteps the bounds of its authority, state attorneys general check the federal government to protect our residents’ rights,” he wrote. “Above all, we stand for the rule of law.”
