This is a very well done look at the first real court case testing the claims of the Fraudulent Fraud Squad, including von Spakovsky and Kobach. Enjoy. … Continue reading
Category Archives: fraudulent fraud squad
Given how things went at trial (Kobach got held in contempt at one point—though had the fine paid off with a government credit card), this is no surprise. In addition to injunctive and declaratory relief, “the Court imposes sanctions responsive … Continue reading
Our is the only democracy in the world that celebrates, as clever tactics, excluding people from voting. We don't even pretend that the choice of the people should win: we accept that a candidate can win by denying the vote … Continue reading
NYT: Documents released in a lawsuit attempting to block the inclusion of a question about citizenship in the 2020 census show lobbying by anti-immigration hard-liners for the question’s inclusion, and resistance on the part of some census officials to asking … Continue reading
CJ Online: An attorney for Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach says the attorney fees requested by the American Civil Liberties Union for a contempt finding against Kobach are unreasonably high. In the latest filing in a case over the state’s voter registration … Continue reading
HuffPost: Nearly half of Republicans believe millions of people voted illegally in the last presidential election ― a claim that President Donald Trump has repeatedly made, even though neither he nor anyone else has produced concrete evidence to show it’s … Continue reading
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: Democratic candidate for attorney general Josh Kaul criticized Wisconsin’s top cop Wednesday, saying he had made ludicrous comments about voter ID, had failed to test rape kits and hadn’t taken action to keep the internet moving at the … Continue reading
KC Star: Kansas lawmakers have abandoned an effort to force Secretary of State Kris Kobach to pay out of his own pocket the costs of being held in contempt of court. The decision ended a looming showdown between Kobach and … Continue reading
Urban Milwaukee reports. … Continue reading
In Breitbart interview, Kris Kobach calls the recent order holding him in contempt for failing to register voters “just ridiculous.” https://t.co/hc2W8zJGv1 — Kira Lerner (@kira_lerner) April 23, 2018 Kobach's description of why he was held in contempt is really … Continue reading
KC Star: A federal judge on Wednesday found Secretary of State Kris Kobach in contempt of court in a case involving Kansas voting laws, her latest rebuke of the Republican candidate for governor. Kobach is considered a GOP frontrunner despite … Continue reading
Pema Levy for Mother Jones. … Continue reading
The Hill: White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday defended President Trump’s claims about widespread voter fraud in the 2016 election and argued the administration has no evidence to back up the claims because states have refused to cooperate with a federal … Continue reading
The Fix: “They always like to say, ‘Oh, that’s a conspiracy theory!’ ” [Trump] continued. “Not a conspiracy theory, folks. Millions and millions of people, and it’s very hard because the state guards their records. They don’t want to see … Continue reading
Sherman Smith in the Topeka Capital-Journal: Dale Ho’s mic drop flourish with a key witness for Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach made for one of the most memorable moments in a trial over the state’s voter registration law. But … Continue reading
Ellsworth-American: The whole affair began when he received a call from Kobach asking if he’d join the commission. At first, he said, he had no intention to help. But friends and colleagues advised him that he could play a regulating … Continue reading
Daniel Nachanian oped for NBC Think. … Continue reading
KC Star: Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach could be facing a contempt order from a federal court after a judge on Tuesday tore into the Kansas Republican about repeatedly skirting her orders. U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson chastised Kobach, … Continue reading
Bryan Lowry for the KC Star: A federal judge will decide whether thousands can vote in Kansas this fall after the conclusion of a two-week trial that saw a leading candidate for governor scolded and scrutinized. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, … Continue reading
This trial is going to go down in the history books. It is the first time the Fraudulent Fraud Squad’s spurious claims of massive voter fraud literally have been put to trial and cross examination. It is not going well … Continue reading
Lead Sunday NYT editorial. … Continue reading
Charles Pierce on the Kobach-ACLU trial. … Continue reading
CJ Online: Jesse Richman endured a blistering critique Tuesday of his estimate of 18,000 noncitizen voters in Kansas and said he couldn’t support claims by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote because more … Continue reading
TPM: The chair of the Republican Party in Chicago last year passed on allegations of voter fraud to a member of President Trump’s now-defunct voter fraud commission, using a top Justice Department official as intermediary, newly released emails reveal. The emails, … Continue reading
The Topeka Capital Journal reports. … Continue reading
TPM: A prominent voter fraud alarmist who had prepared a report defending Kansas’ proof-of-citizenship law admitted in testimony Friday that he did not investigate the circumstances surrounding the registrations of a handful of non-citizens that were central to his allegations. … Continue reading
That’s the subhead of this Sam Levine piece on Dale Ho’s examination of von Spakovksy yesterday. … Continue reading
I really wish I could have been there Bryan Lowry: Ho also questioned von Spakovsky about his interpretation of the 14th Amendment, which differs from that of the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. State Department. Von Spakovsky confirmed that he … Continue reading
Bryan Lowry: Video of Kobach’s deposition was screened before a small crowd at the federal courthouse in Kansas City, Kan., Friday against Kobach’s objections as part of a trial that will determine whether thousands can vote in Kansas this fall … Continue reading
Sharp Frank Wilkinson for Bloomberg View: When Kobach ran for office in 2010, he condemned the thousands of dead people and illegal aliens who were poisoning his state’s ballot box with their fraudulent votes. But in his seven years as … Continue reading
Topeka Capital-Journal: American Civil Liberties Union attorneys on Thursday scrutinized examples of questionable voters compiled by the Sedgwick County elections commissioner and reported to Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Of the 38 people in Tabitha Lehman’s spreadsheet, only five … Continue reading
HuffPost reports. From May 2017 until January, Kobach led the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, a probe convened by the White House to investigate voter fraud. The commission asked election officials in all 50 states to provide it with … Continue reading
TPM: On multiple occasions, U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson has interrupted questioning to walk Kobach and his crew of lawyers through the intricacies of moves such as admitting evidence and asking witnesses about previous depositions. Robinson, an appointee of President … Continue reading
Bryan Lowry: A federal judge will allow the ACLU to show video of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach speaking about his advice to President Donald Trump as part of a trial that will determine whether thousands can vote in … Continue reading
KCUR: In a committee briefing on security matters Monday, Democratic Rep. Jeff Pittman raised concerns that Kansas could face lawsuits or have to pay for credit monitoring services if some of the records get hacked or improperly released. Kansas currently … Continue reading
Kansas.com: Kobach suggested another witness was also biased. He read aloud tweets from Michael McDonald, a professor at the University of Florida, that disparaged Kobach. One tweet referenced reports that a staffer for Vice President Mike Pence had called Kobach … Continue reading
Byran Lowry for the KC Star. … Continue reading
Sam Levine for HuffPo. … Continue reading
TPM reports. … Continue reading
Charles Blow NYT column: One thing that is clear to me following the special counsel’s indictment of 13 Russians and three companies for interfering with our election is that the black vote was specifically under attack, from sources foreign and domestic. And … Continue reading
More from the indictment: … Continue reading
McClatchy with a voting wars curtain raiser. You are not going to want to miss some of the quotes in this article. … Continue reading
Wichita Eagle: When a federal lawsuit challenging Kansas’s proof of citizenship voter law goes to trial in March, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach plans to be in the courtroom. He’ll be the attorney defending the law he crafted. Rarely, … Continue reading
CBS News: The former chairman of the Colorado Republican Party was sentenced to four years of probation and 300 hours of community service for voter fraud. Steve Curtis blamed a “major diabetic episode” for causing him to vote his ex-wife’s … Continue reading
Release: The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law on Friday filed a lawsuit against the Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Homeland Security (DHS) for blocking the public release of information related to their efforts to investigate unfounded claims of … Continue reading
Gizmodo: This is started to just get sad. Prior to receiving notice from Gizmodo this morning, Kris Kobach’s office was leaking sensitive information belonging to thousands of state employees, including himself and nearly every member of the Kansas state legislature. … Continue reading
WaPo: President Donald Trump’s election fraud commission asked every state and the District for detailed voter registration data, but in Texas’s case it took an additional step: it asked to see Texas records that identify all voters with Hispanic surnames, … Continue reading
The PBS News Hour reports. … Continue reading
TPM: A federal judge didn’t buy the Justice Department’s argument that Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach couldn’t speak to what was being done with the data collected by the now-defunct voter fraud commission he led. The judge ordered that Kobach or … Continue reading
Tierney Sneed for TPM. … Continue reading