DOJ’s new top voting lawyer worked for leading anti-voting law firm

• The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) new top voting lawyer previously worked for a prominent anti-voting legal group and has appeared with the election denier Cleta Mitchell, according to a Democracy Docket exclusive. The appointment highlights the Trump DOJ's sharp shift from protecting voting rights to restricting them.

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• The Trump Administration is detaining and threatening students with deportation in retaliation for speaking out on issues they care about.
  
  
• The government cannot punish anyone for their speech or viewpoint — citizen or not. Demand Congress take action.

SCOTUS to decide standing case backed by leading anti-voting figures 

• SCOTUS will hear a GOP-backed challenge to Illinois' mail-in ballot receipt deadline, previously dismissed by lower courts for lack of standing. Republicans aim to use this case — which is backed by leading conservatives, including Mitchell — to expand the opportunities for SCOTUS’ conservative majority to further restrict voting access.

Speaking of SCOTUS

• The Trump administration is asking SCOTUS to halt a court order blocking mass federal layoffs and agency reorganization.

Literacy tests should be required for voters, Trump judge pick claims

• Josh Divine, one of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees, argued in 2010 that in order to vote, people should be required to take literacy tests. Such tests were outlawed by the Voting Rights Act in 1965 for being racially discriminatory. The op-ed was first revealed by the Huffington Post.

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Pro-voting group joins DOJ voter roll case

• The North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans* filed a motion to join the DOJ’s new anti-voting lawsuit as a defendant. The Trump DOJ sued North Carolina over its alleged failure to maintain accurate voter rolls.
  
  
• The existing defendant in the case, the state election board, is now controlled by the GOP, and it has signaled that it may not put up a vigorous defense. So the intervention could ensure that pro-voter arguments get a hearing. 

Key court cases to watch this week

• Marc gives his breakdown on the major voting rights lawsuits to keep an eye on in court this week.

*The North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans is represented by Elias Law Group (ELG). ELG Firm Chair Marc Elias is the founder of Democracy Docket.