Non-Citizen Voting Goes to Court

Hans A. von Spakovsky describes the bizzarre court hearing where the left is trying to block

Kansas, Georgia, Alabama, and Arizona from requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration.  The U.S. Election Assistance Commission has approved their attempt at preventing non-citizens from voting, but the Department of Justice refused to defend this federal agency's decision:

This morning, as I predicted would happen in an article on Sunday, the U.S. Justice Department took a dive and filed a pleading in which it not only failed to defend the actions of the EAC, but agreed with the plaintiffs and consented to both a TRO and a PI. Judge Leon called the pleading “unprecedented” and “extraordinary.” He said he had never seen such a document in his entire experience as a lawyer or a judge. He was obviously astonished that the Justice Department was not defending the agency, and it was soon clear he was not going to allow DOJ to just roll over.

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/431752/noncitizen-voting-case-doj-rebuked

 It was clear that Judge Leon was shocked at what DOJ had done. While he gave the plaintiffs 20 minutes to argue their case, he gave the lawyer from the Federal Programs Branch of DOJ only five minutes because he said that DOJ was obviously on the same side as the plaintiffs. He also said almost immediately that he would not grant a PI without a complete briefing and arguments on the case — despite DOJ wanting to consent to the PI. Judge Leon made clear that there was “no chance at all — zero” that he would do what the plaintiffs and the Justice Department wanted him to do on that issue. When the DOJ lawyer got up, he was asked very tough questions about DOJ’s actions in this case by Judge Leon, including the potential conflict of interest that I discussed in my Sunday article and which Commissioner McCormick referred to in her letter to the judge. The DOJ lawyer denied that there was a conflict and gave rambling, vague answers that clearly did not satisfy the judge. Leon was obviously annoyed at the lawyer’s inability to answer some of his questions, saying “I gave you the weekend to get ready for this — what have you been doing?” Judge Leon talked about all of the cases in which the Federal Programs Branch has been involved in his courtroom, and said he had never seen the type of incomplete brief that DOJ had filed in this case. He said that those briefs “usually cover the waterfront” in terms of raising every legal argument to defend an agency. Leon was very dismissive of the DOJ’s position, its behavior, and its failure to mount a defense consistent with its usual practice.

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/431752/noncitizen-voting-case-doj-rebuked

The Obama Administration thinks that refusing to allow non-citizens to register to vote is a civil rights violation.  When will so,meone take their duties seriously?

Even better:

He waved the EAC opinion at issue in the air and said “this is what Nazis do behind closed doors!” You know a lawyer is desperate when he tries to equate a dispute over an election administration issue to Nazi Germany.

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/431752/noncitizen-voting-case-doj-rebuked