With the midterm elections days away, the U.S. Department of Justice has launched aggressive lawsuits, citizenship checks, and criminal cases against political figures.
I’m the one that said, ‘Do it,’
President Donald Trump told reporters on October 23. Days before the November 3 midterm elections, the federal law enforcement agency under Attorney General Todd Blanche has aggressively waded into election administration and campaign politics.
Justice Department Challenges Mail-In Voting in California and Alaska
The Justice Department has filed unprecedented lawsuits filed in California and Alaska to intervene directly in how state contests operate. In California, federal authorities targeted mail-in voting systems by demanding that election officials set aside ballots from roughly 20,000 individuals the department claims are likely noncitizens.
The Department of Justice does not seek to stop any ballot from being cast or to stop the certification of Alaska's election. This litigation seeks to ensure that after Alaskans cast their ballots, they are preserved in a manner so that only Alaska's governing officials have the…
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the administration, dismissing an emergency appeal.
In the California matter, prosecutors sent 48-hour deadline letters to at least 18 additional counties across the state. State and county officials disputed the reliability of the government’s list, arguing that federal law provides no authority for the Department of Justice to force changes to ballot processing procedures.
In the past couple of months, the Justice Department has publicly announced more than 100 cases against noncitizens for alleged voting crimes as part of a campaign push.
In Alaska, the federal government asked a court to delay certification in the state Senate race if incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan loses by a narrow margin.
This is how the two Dan Sullivans appear on Alaska’s ranked choice ballot. pic.twitter.com/DDvkRiqE4c
Sullivan on the ballot could create voter confusion. This asserts that a result counts as impacted only if the senator loses and would have won had those specific votes gone to him. President Donald Trump told reporters that he directed the litigation himself.
Justice Department Targets Political Foes with Criminal Cases
Alongside its civil election suits, the Justice Department has pursued multiple high-profile criminal cases against critics of the president. It is delivering on promises to conservative supporters that officials viewed as undermining the president would face legal consequences.
The Justice Department is drawing up contingency plans to potentially intervene in next week’s midterm elections, three national security officials tell me: https://t.co/KoqysEzBQ0
Former FBI Director James Comey was charged in Washington, D.C., with a criminal information rather than a grand jury indictment to bypass the 10-year statute of limitations. Prosecutors allege Comey leaked sensitive government material to the media in 2016 while heading the bureau.
It is remarkable to me that they have brought three terrible cases against the same man.
James Comey
In addition, the department charged two former FBI officials with making false statements to Congress to hinder a Republican-led House committee’s investigation. Attorney General Todd Blanche has maintained an active schedule, handling politically sensitive investigations and execution of search warrants ahead of the midterms.
Election Experts Launch Legal Pushback and Criticisms
Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar warned that the whole narrative is an attack on Latino voters. Election law scholars noted that the lawsuits lack a valid legal cause of action, with critics describing them as press releases masquerading as court filings.
Senior staff attorneys from civil rights organizations point out that the administrative moves are largely intended to manufacture doubt about the trustworthiness of elections.
BASH: The worry is that we end up in a situation where President Trump tries to overturn the election and the result of that could be like what we saw after January 6–BLANCHE: Stop it! You gotta stop it with that! That's crazyBASH: This is a president who has a history pic.twitter.com/LjwI6S58kY
Legal litigators specializing in elections, such as Marc Elias of the Elias Law Group representing the Democratic Party, stated that they expect similar legal actions targeting other regions like Nevada, New Jersey, and Philadelphia.
Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee defended its own litigation footprint. General counsel Mike Hurst stated that the party has over 200 lawsuits throughout the country designed to secure voting processes.
If he can't win, he will cheat. That's why, ahead of the midterm elections, Trump and his administration have spread lies about election integrity, gutted the election security division of CISA, threatened to send armed agents to the polls, and even attempted to hack voting… https://t.co/MQTB2DFH4p
We have over 200 lawsuits throughout the country,
Mike Hurst stated.