1. United States
2. Colo.
3. Letter

I am writing to demand immediate congressional action in response to the Department of Justice's nationwide campaign to seize state voter registration data under false pretenses. A federal judge in Oregon has issued a devastating ruling that should alarm every member of Congress who values the rule of law. Every single one of you needs to stand up and start screaming about this lawless DOJ and fighting for the American people. U.S. District Judge Mustafa T. Kasubhai concluded in his written opinion released Thursday that the DOJ can no longer be presumed to be acting in good faith. He wrote that "the presumption of regularity that has been previously extended to Plaintiff that it could be taken at its word — with little doubt about its intentions and stated purposes — no longer holds." This is an extraordinary judicial rebuke of a federal law enforcement agency that is lying daily and breaking court orders. The evidence is damning. Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter linking voter roll demands to ICE deployment in Minnesota. Judge Kasubhai cited this as proof the DOJ is lying about its motives, stating the context "casts serious doubt as to the true purposes for which Plaintiff is seeking voter registration lists in this and other cases, and what it intends to do with that data." The DOJ has publicly announced plans to create a nationwide database of confidential voter information for immigration enforcement, a purpose Congress never authorized. These actions are clearly being done based upon the authoritarian president's will rather than any legitimate legal authority. Judge Kasubhai rejected the DOJ's legal claims under the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1960. He emphasized that "Congress knows how to include disclosure provisions" and "did not do so here." The court characterized the DOJ's actions as "an overreach and misuse" that threatens constitutional federalism and warned of "an erosion of voting rights and voter participation." Dozens of similar lawsuits are pending nationwide. New Mexico and Minnesota have already cited this ruling in their own cases. I am asking you to immediately introduce or co-sponsor legislation that explicitly prohibits the DOJ from obtaining state voter registration data for immigration enforcement purposes and holds accountable those officials who have misrepresented their intentions to federal courts. The integrity of our elections and the rule of law demand nothing less.