ACLU

Arizona Voter Registration Groups Sue Secretary Reagan For People Who Change Addresses With MVD; “Stamping Their Feet” Or “Protecting Qualified Voters”?

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The League of Women Voters has filed a federal lawsuit against Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan on Saturday, as a result of a disagreement over when and how to change people’s addresses for voting purposes after they  filed a change of address with the Motor Vehicle Division. Is it an example of “stamping their feet in front of a judge” – as claimed by Reagan’s office – or “protect(ing) thousands of Arizonans from the irreparable loss of their right to vote this November.” That will be among the questions for the judge to decide.

Joining LWV in bringing the suit are voter registration groups Promise Arizona and Mi Familia Vota Education Fund, with legal assistance by the ACLU (national and Arizona chapter) and others. They are asking that the Court order the Secretary to instruct County Recorders to count provisional ballots that may be voted at the voters’ old address (because that still shows as their voter registration address despite filing a change with MVD).

The Court is also being asked to order the Secretary of State to notify – before mid-September – all voters who filed change of addresses with MVD. The letter would instruct them as to their voting options and would include a voter registration form. (Click here to read the Complaint and related filings.)

After the voter registration groups reached an understanding last week with MVD, AHCCCS and DES about future cure to the agreed violations of the federal Motor Voter Act, Secretary Reagan announced that she had rejected the demands because changes are already scheduled for 2019 and trying it now “would only produce voter confusion.” Secretary of State Communications Director Matt Roberts told Arizona’s Politics that:

“It’s disappointing that organizations like the ACLU, Mi Familia Vota and the League of Women Voters are seemingly more interested in stamping their feet in front of a judge rather than accepting the fact that the changes they want are already scheduled. We’re confident the court will agree that sending a letter to five hundred thousand people saying the state changed their voter registration address right before an election isn’t the greatest idea.”

 

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Federal judge issues a preliminary injunction against family separation policy; 17 state attorneys general sue Trump administration

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The ACLU’s class action lawsuit Ms. L v. ICE to end immigrant family separation and immediately reunite children and parents has reached a pivotal point. The San Diego Union Tribune reports, San Diego federal judge orders separated children reunited with parents within 30 days:

A San Diego federal judge issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday at the request of the American Civil Liberties Union that calls for all children affected by the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy to be reunited with their parents within 30 days.

In a toughly worded opinion, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw wrote “the facts set forth before the court portray reactive governance — responses to address a chaotic circumstance of the government’s own making. They belie measured and ordered governance, which is central to the concept of due process enshrined in our Constitution.

“The unfortunate reality is that under the present system migrant children are not accounted for with the same efficiency and accuracy as property. Certainly, that cannot satisfy the requirements of due process,” he added.

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ACLU case against Trump’s zero tolerance immigration policy can proceed

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Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) tried to visit an immigration detention facility in Brownsville, Texas on Sunday, but was denied access into the building. Sen. Jeff Merkley denied entry into one migrant detention facility, claims he saw kids caged in another:

This prompted a letter and 19 questions from Sen. Merkley to the Office of Refugee Resettlement about what’s going on behind closed doors at some of the country’s detention facilities amid concerns about the separation of children from their parents who have attempted to cross the border illegally.See the letter and all 19 questions. The senator requested a response by June 15.

Merkley live-streamed his arrival at a detention facility run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement in Brownsville, Texas on Sunday, which he said was housing children who had been separated from their families at the border. During Merkley’s live stream, the senator introduced himself to guards outside the building, identifying himself as a member of Congress and asking for permission to enter. The windows at the facility appeared to be blacked out.

“I was barred entry,” Merkley said. “Asked repeatedly to speak to a supervisor — he finally came out and said he can’t tell us anything. Police were called on us,” he added in a tweet.

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“I wanted to be able to visit the facility where apparently upwards of 1,000 children are being held in that massive building, a former Walmart, and the federal government, President Trump and team, Attorney General Sessions, Homeland Security, they do not want members of Congress or the public to know what’s going on,” Merkley later told CNN in a phone interview on Monday.

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ACLU Report: Arizona Charter Schools Illegally Discriminate

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Arizona charter schools are illegally choosing students who fit their mold by applying exclusionary policies, failing to fulfill their “school choice” promise that all students have an equal opportunity to enroll, according to a new report by the ACLU of Arizona. The report, Schools Choosing Students, exposes Arizona’s 543 charter schools and their discriminatory—and sometimes unlawful—policies, which create … Read more