News Roundup: Threats to Election Administration, Attacks on Civil Rights, and New Lawsuit Against DHS
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As the 2024 election becomes a more frequent topic of conversation, so too have voting rights — both new restrictions as well as measures designed to expand access to the ballot.

A new report ([link removed]) from Voting Rights Lab found that ([link removed]) more than half of all elections-related bills introduced in the first quarters of 2021, 2022 and 2023 expanded access, but noted that “restrictive voting laws are being enacted faster in 2023 than in previous years.” The report also notes that “election interference legislation remains a threat” and that “state and local election officials are the main target of these bills.”

It’s those state and local offices that remain a place where the election denier movement poses a particularly potent threat.
* In Pennsylvania this week, six county commissioners who had refused to certify the results of last year’s election until the state intervened all secured Republican nominations to remain in office ([link removed]) .
* The drumbeat of right-wing and conspiracy-fueled attacks on the nonpartisan, nonprofit Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) continues. With Virginia’s exit last week ([link removed]) , eight states have withdrawn from the voter roll program — and North Carolina ([link removed]) and Texas could follow suit ([link removed]) .


Right-wing attacks on civil rights aren’t done, either. In North Carolina, Republican lawmakers overrode the governor’s veto ([link removed]) to enact a 12-week abortion ban, and South Carolina’s House passed its own six-week abortion ban ([link removed]) . Nebraska’s Legislature voted to include a 12-week abortion ban ([link removed]) in a bill prohibiting gender-affirming health care for minors, an anti-trans measure that’s been repeated in several states. Here are some related headlines from the past week:
* DeSantis signs into law restrictions on trans Floridians’ access to treatments and bathrooms (CNN ([link removed]) )
* Texas legislature bans transgender medical care for children (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* Idaho will soon ban gender-affirming care. Here are the consequences for trans kids (Idaho Statesman ([link removed]) )
* 3 judges who chipped away abortion rights to hear federal abortion pill appeal (Associated Press ([link removed]) )
* Idaho’s murky abortion law is driving doctors out of the state (CNN ([link removed]) )
* Antiabortion groups push 2024 GOP candidates to embrace national ban (Washington Post ([link removed]) )


New American Oversight Lawsuit

On Wednesday, we sued the Department of Homeland Security over its failure to release records that could shed light on the creation of and potential influences behind the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), the Trump administration policy requiring asylum-seekers at the southern border to wait in Mexico for their claims to be processed.
* In September 2019, we submitted a FOIA request seeking communications between political appointees and certain anti-immigrant groups, including several that have been condemned as hate groups by organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center.
* More than three years later, DHS component agencies have still failed to release these records.
* “The public has a right to see what Trump-era officials were discussing with extremist anti-immigrant groups and how those alliances may have impacted the ‘Remain in Mexico’ program,” said our executive director Heather Sawyer. Read more here. ([link removed])

On the Records

Durham Investigation Report Released
This week, Special Counsel John Durham released his report ([link removed]) on his inquiry into the origins of the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation. As expected, the report is heavy on criticism of the FBI but lacking in evidence of actionable misconduct.
* American Oversight previously obtained documents revealing that former Attorney General William Barr, who had selected Durham to lead the investigation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into potential ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign, had met frequently with Durham ([link removed]) in the weeks after the Mueller investigation ended — 18 times in seven months ([link removed]) .
* In 2019, we sued the Justice Department to compel the release of documents related to Durham’s investigation, including communications between Durham and senior officials, the Trump White House, or Congress. In a motion filed in that lawsuit late last week, the department announced that it was dropping a key objection ([link removed]) to the release of more than 4,500 pages of documents, indicating that the investigation had been closed.
* Our statement ([link removed]) in response to the report: “From its onset, this investigation was a politicized undertaking in the service of former President Trump. We look forward to the release of more public records that could shed further light on Attorney General Barr and Durham’s four-year, multimillion-dollar effort to appease the former president.”


Another ‘Madison Dinner’ Invite for Harlan Crow
We obtained an email from April 2019 about another “Madison Dinner” to which former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his wife Susan Pompeo invited Harlan Crow, the billionaire whose extravagant gifts to Justice Clarence Thomas have drawn major scrutiny. The email notes that Crow was “so disappointed” he couldn’t attend that he “asked for a memento of the invitation.”
* The records, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, are another indication of the level of access Crow has had with powerful conservative officials, including Trump administration cabinet members.
* Last week, we published records showing that Harlan Crow attended at least one of the controversial, taxpayer-funded dinners in the fall of 2019. Learn more about those records here ([link removed]) .

Other Stories We're Following

Jan. 6 Investigations
* It cost Steve Bannon $601,000 to ignore the Jan. 6 committee (Daily Beast ([link removed]) )
* Fulton County DA opposes Trump’s efforts to toss special grand jury report on 2020 election interference (CNN ([link removed]) )
* Georgia prosecutor signals August timetable for charges in Trump inquiry (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* FBI revokes security clearances of 3 agents over Jan. 6 issues (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* GOP witnesses undermined Jan. 6 cases with conspiracy theories, FBI says (NBC News ([link removed]) )
* Wisconsin judge allows for lawsuit against fake Trump electors to proceed (Associated Press ([link removed]) )


Voting Rights
* Supreme Court to consider South Carolina voting map ruled a racial gerrymander (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* Tarrant County Democrats ask feds to investigate O’Hare’s actions, citing voting rights (KERA News ([link removed]) )
* How much did election denial hurt Republicans in the midterms? (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* Kari Lake headed to trial on last remaining claim in suit over loss in Arizona governor’s race (Associated Press ([link removed]) )
* Kari Lake’s star trial witness was involved in the 2020 election ‘audit’ (Arizona Daily Star ([link removed]) )
* Eliminating countywide voting in Texas would make the process harder on voters, cost more money, election leaders say (Texas Tribune ([link removed]) )
* Ypsilanti landlords sue city over rule they must give voting information to tenants (MLive.com ([link removed]) )


Trump Administration Accountability
* Trump lawyer in classified documents probe resigns (Politico ([link removed]) )
* Supreme Court takes up case on Trump hotel records (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* New evidence in special counsel probe may undercut Trump’s claim documents he took were automatically declassified (CNN ([link removed]) )


Immigration
* DeSantis to send law enforcement to US-Mexico border as he gears up for 2024 run (Tampa Bay Times ([link removed]) )
* Texas has been taking immigration matters into its own hands (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* Homeland Security uses AI tool to analyze social media of U.S. citizens and refugees (Vice ([link removed]) )
* Supreme Court dismisses case on pandemic-era immigration measure (New York Times ([link removed]) )


In the States
* Report: More than half of all rural Tennessee hospitals no longer deliver babies (Tennessee Lookout ([link removed]) )
* Gianforte signs Montana TikTok ban, directs agencies to ban apps linked to foreign adversaries (Daily Montanan ([link removed]) )
* Gianforte signs into law insulin cap, bill preventing private contributions to elections (Daily Montanan ([link removed]) )
* Disney pulls plug on $1 billion development in Florida (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* U.S. officials say Iowa child labor bill does not comply with federal law (Iowa Capital Dispatch ([link removed]) )
* Joseph Ladapo says anti-vaccine crusade was God’s plan. It cost him his peers’ trust (Orlando Sentinel ([link removed]) )
* Texas GOP’s broadest attempt yet to erode blue cities’ power gets one step closer to becoming law (Texas Tribune ([link removed]) )
* In FOIA case, Virginia Supreme Court draws ‘bright line’ upholding open meetings (Virginia Mercury ([link removed]) )
* Missouri lawmakers fail to raise bar to amend constitution, easing path for abortion rights (Associated Press ([link removed]) )


Attacks on Education
* Ron DeSantis’ ban of school diversity programs is coming to these states next (Politico ([link removed]) )
* Louisiana Senate approves restrictions on children’s library access (Louisiana Illuminator ([link removed]) )
* Ohio Senate bill would create ‘intellectual diversity’ centers at Ohio State and the University of Toledo (Ohio Capital Journal ([link removed]) )
* DeSantis signs bill to defund DEI programs at Florida’s public colleges (Washington Post ([link removed]) )
* Florida teacher investigated by state agency for showing Disney movie in class (Tallahassee Democrat ([link removed]) )
* DeSantis ally with no higher-ed experience says he’s getting a state college’s top job (Miami Herald ([link removed]) )
* School librarians face a new penalty in the banned-book wars: Prison (Washington Post ([link removed]) )
* PEN America, Penguin Random House sue Florida school district over book bans (Associated Press ([link removed]) )


National News
* How to raise $89 million in small donations, and make it disappear (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* Supreme Court rejects challenge to Illinois assault weapons ban (NBC News ([link removed]) )
* George Santos expulsion coming before House as Democrats force vote (Associated Press ([link removed]) )
* IRS acknowledges Black Americans face more audit scrutiny (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* 'I don't see this as an end to the pandemic': Ashish Jha on the end of Covid public health emergency (Stat News) ([link removed])

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