Another Section 2 case dropped by the Trump Administration. The Standard Speaker reports:

The U.S. Justice Department dropped a lawsuit Monday to stop the City of Hazleton from electing council members at-large, a change that the lawsuit said would give Hispanic candidates and voters more opportunities to participate in the political process.

“The DOJ’s baseless assumption that the non-Hispanic white voters vote as a block to defeat Hispanic candidates could not be supported. The Hazleton community simply cannot be stereotyped by people who have never visited the area. The City believes that the five at-large City Council seats elected on rotating election cycles should continue to be duly elected by the people,” Hazleton Mayor Jeff Cusat said Tuesday in a news release.

While 43.3% of Hazleton’s citizens old enough to vote are Hispanic, no Hispanic candidate has been elected to council, even though Hispanic candidates ran in seven elections between 2014 and 2023, according to the lawsuit filed Jan. 14.