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The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Washington, seeks a court order
barring the administration from purging legally registered
voters from statewide voter registration lists or denying
ballots to legally registered voters.
The plaintiffs, including Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem
Jeffries, also ask for a ruling that the administration has
illegally threatened state election officials with prosecution
before the Nov. 3 election.
The lawsuit cites the Justice Department’s recent actions in
California, where it sued to block state election officials from
counting mail-in ballots cast by people whom the federal
government has identified as “likely” noncitizens until their
immigration status can be confirmed.
“For over a decade now, President Donald J. Trump has bombarded
the American people with lies and misinformation about American
elections and voter fraud," the suit says. "While these lies
have been debunked at every turn, that has never deterred the
President from employing them as a pretext to seize control over
elections, even as courts overwhelmingly reject that effort.”
The Justice Department said in a statement that election
integrity is a top priority for the administration and the
department's actions on that front are grounded in law and under
court litigation.
The Democratic leaders' lawsuit was assigned to Chief Judge
James Boasberg, who has been vilified by the White House for
rulings against the Trump administration since the start of the
Republican president’s second term.
The suit's other plaintiffs are the Democratic Senatorial
Campaign Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign
Committee and the Democratic Governors Association. Its named
defendants are Trump, the Justice Department, Attorney General
Todd Blanche, the Department of Homeland Security and DHS
Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
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