Category Archives: Department of Justice

“Justice Dept. Drops a Key Objection to a Texas Voter ID Law”

February 27, 2017, 6:12 pmDepartment of Justice, election administration, The Voting Wars, voter id, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Manny Fernandez and Eric Licthblau in the NYT: The Justice Department remains a party in the case. But it is pulling back at a crucial phase. If a judge finds the state acted with discriminatory intent, as the Justice Department… Continue reading

“Plaintiffs Oppose Texas & Justice Department Effort to Delay Hearing on Photo ID Law”

February 23, 2017, 8:07 pmDepartment of Justice, election administration, The Voting Wars, voter id, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Release: Groups and individuals suing Texas over its strict photo ID law filed a brief in U.S. District Court today in opposition to a joint request by the state and the United States Department of Justice, who asked to delay… Continue reading

Bauer on Sen. Sessions as AG Who Acts as Policy and Politics “Clearinghouse”

January 31, 2017, 7:18 amDepartment of JusticeRick Hasen

Post: Mr. Bannon was responding to a question posed by the Washington Post and inspired, apparently, by the AG nominee’s part in fashioning President Trump’s policy agenda. Mr. Bannon is reported to have described Senator Sessions as “the clearinghouse for… Continue reading

“Trump’s Voting Investigation Is a Great Idea; As long as it looks like this.”

January 25, 2017, 8:59 amDepartment of Justice, election administration, The Voting WarsRick Hasen

I have written this piece for Slate. It begins: President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for a “major investigation” into voter fraud. While his tweets announcing the call focus on the possibility of double voting and voter registration fraud, the… Continue reading

“Civil Rights Group Rebukes Trump Justice Dept. Over Case Delays”

January 25, 2017, 8:56 amDepartment of JusticeRick Hasen

NYT: A leading civil rights group on Tuesday denounced the Trump administration’s delay of legal cases to overhaul the Baltimore Police Department and challenge a voter ID law in Texas — two lawsuits that were major efforts of the Obama-era… Continue reading

My Prediction on Voting Rights under Trump/Sessions

January 25, 2017, 8:46 amDepartment of Justice, election administration, The Voting WarsRick Hasen

Here, at Slate’s set of predictions for the new administration.

Sen. Sessions Noncommittal on DOJ Position on Texas and North Carolina Voting Cases; Agrees to Enforce VRA Section 2

January 23, 2017, 8:06 pmDepartment of Justice, Supreme Court, The Voting Wars, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Written questions from Sen. Leahy and Sen. Sessions’ answer in connection with his nomination as AG: 21. You claim to be a champion of the Voting Rights Act because you voted for VRA’s reauthorization in 2006. But aside from this… Continue reading

It Begins: DOJ Asks for Extra Time in Texas Voter ID Case Because of Likely Change of Positions in Case

January 20, 2017, 2:10 pmDepartment of Justice, election administration, The Voting Wars, voter id, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

DOJ has filed this request for a one month extension of a hearing in the trial court hearing the latest round in the Texas voter id case. The motion, which is opposed by the private plaintiffs in the case but… Continue reading

“What happens now to Justice Dept.’s civil rights enforcement?”

January 19, 2017, 8:21 pmDepartment of Justice, Supreme Court, The Voting WarsRick Hasen

WaPo: We spoke with Gupta on Wednesday morning, the last day in her fifth-floor Justice Department office, where pictures of Robert F. Kennedy and Frederick Douglass hung over her desk. The conversation started with the fight to protect voting rights,… Continue reading

Incoming DOJ Deputy Assistant AG for Civil Rights Worked Defending Redistricting Plans

January 19, 2017, 7:28 pmDepartment of JusticeRick Hasen

David Lat lists a number of Jones Day lawyers going to work for the Trump administration. Among those listed is attorney John M. Gore to be the deputy assistant attorney general for civil rights in the DOJ. According to Gore’s… Continue reading

“Under Trump, Approach to Civil Rights Law Is Likely to Change Definitively”

January 19, 2017, 7:31 amDepartment of JusticeRick Hasen

NYT: Few areas of federal policy are likely to change so definitively. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be attorney general, Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, opposes not only the Justice Department’s specific policies on civil rights but its entire… Continue reading

“Justice Dept. Seeks to Join Suit Over 117,000 Purged Brooklyn Voters”

January 12, 2017, 8:28 pmDepartment of Justice, NVRA (motor voter)Rick Hasen

NYT: The Justice Department announced on Thursday that it had filed a motion to join a lawsuit against the New York City Board of Elections, alleging that the board’s Brooklyn office violated federal voter registration law by erasing more than … Continue reading