One of the crown gems of the civil rights movement is the the Voting Rights Act of 1965. While many take it for granted, the right to vote was a matter of life and death for generations of Americans. Not just because the ballot box determined who would be in office, but because the simple intent to vote was enough justification for many Black Americans to be brutally beaten or killed. Having been on its last legs for years, the Supreme Court confined it to the history books with Louisiana v. Callais.
In it, Alito and the other Republicans on the Court decided that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act should only kick in if litigants can prove intentional racial discrimination as the animus behind gerrymandering with disproportionately racial effects. Now, unless the gerrymanderers pull a Hegseth and leak the battle plans on Signal, any justification — including protecting incumbents — is sufficient to shield against being taken to court for voting rights dilution. And when the right to vote is in this much jeopardy, its time to bring out the big guns:
Gerrymandering isn’t the only way that the right to vote is being attacked. A key component of voting is being able to do so without someone breathing over your shoulder. Without privacy, voters may be swayed to vote differently or fail to cast a ballot at all. Jamie Ding has been on the side of voting right privacy, and it is a boon to have him. New Jersey Globe has coverage:
Jamie Ding, the reigning champion on Jeopardy!, is now at the center of a federal court fight on voter privacy, joining a group of intervenors seeking to block the U.S. Department of Justice from obtaining the state’s complete voter registration list, a database that includes sensitive personal information on over 6.6 million New Jerseyans.
At issue is an extraordinary demand from the Trump administration, which has asked a federal judge to compel Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell, the Secretary of State, to turn over its entire statewide voter file — an unredacted database containing voters’ names, addresses, dates of birth, and in some cases partial Social Security and driver’s license numbers — arguing the information is necessary to review the state’s compliance with federal election laws.
There has to be a less intrusive way of reviewing the state’s compliance. Given the administration’s habit of harassing their political opposition over the dumbest of shit, it makes sense that this data should be kept out of the hands of a vindictive and stupid government. It is only a matter of time before some federal employee feeds the data into Grok and causes a data breach so widespread that Citizens Bank would blush at.
Let’s hope that voting privacy doesn’t go the way of the Voting Rights Act.
Trump Wants N.J. To Turn Over Full Voter Registration Data. One Of The People Fighting Him In Court Is Jeopardy Champion Jamie Ding [New Jersey Globe]
Earlier: Seton Hall Law Student Lands In Jeopardy!’s Top Five
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boat builder who is learning to swim and is interested in rhetoric, Spinozists and humor. Getting back in to cycling wouldn’t hurt either. You can reach him by email at christopherrashadwilliams@gmail.com and by Tweet/Bluesky at @WritesForRent.
The post Law Student Fights To Protect Voter Privacy Rights In Jeopardy appeared first on Above the Law.
One of the crown gems of the civil rights movement is the the Voting Rights Act of 1965. While many take it for granted, the right to vote was a matter of life and death for generations of Americans. Not just because the ballot box determined who would be in office, but because the simple intent to vote was enough justification for many Black Americans to be brutally beaten or killed. Having been on its last legs for years, the Supreme Court confined it to the history books with Louisiana v. Callais.
In it, Alito and the other Republicans on the Court decided that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act should only kick in if litigants can prove intentional racial discrimination as the animus behind gerrymandering with disproportionately racial effects. Now, unless the gerrymanderers pull a Hegseth and leak the battle plans on Signal, any justification — including protecting incumbents — is sufficient to shield against being taken to court for voting rights dilution. And when the right to vote is in this much jeopardy, its time to bring out the big guns:
Gerrymandering isn’t the only way that the right to vote is being attacked. A key component of voting is being able to do so without someone breathing over your shoulder. Without privacy, voters may be swayed to vote differently or fail to cast a ballot at all. Jamie Ding has been on the side of voting right privacy, and it is a boon to have him. New Jersey Globe has coverage:
Jamie Ding, the reigning champion on Jeopardy!, is now at the center of a federal court fight on voter privacy, joining a group of intervenors seeking to block the U.S. Department of Justice from obtaining the state’s complete voter registration list, a database that includes sensitive personal information on over 6.6 million New Jerseyans.
At issue is an extraordinary demand from the Trump administration, which has asked a federal judge to compel Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell, the Secretary of State, to turn over its entire statewide voter file — an unredacted database containing voters’ names, addresses, dates of birth, and in some cases partial Social Security and driver’s license numbers — arguing the information is necessary to review the state’s compliance with federal election laws.
There has to be a less intrusive way of reviewing the state’s compliance. Given the administration’s habit of harassing their political opposition over the dumbest of shit, it makes sense that this data should be kept out of the hands of a vindictive and stupid government. It is only a matter of time before some federal employee feeds the data into Grok and causes a data breach so widespread that Citizens Bank would blush at.
Let’s hope that voting privacy doesn’t go the way of the Voting Rights Act.
Trump Wants N.J. To Turn Over Full Voter Registration Data. One Of The People Fighting Him In Court Is Jeopardy Champion Jamie Ding [New Jersey Globe]
Earlier: Seton Hall Law Student Lands In Jeopardy!’s Top Five
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boat builder who is learning to swim and is interested in rhetoric, Spinozists and humor. Getting back in to cycling wouldn’t hurt either. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by Tweet/Bluesky at @WritesForRent.
