Attorney General Todd Rokita co-leading fight against DOJ efforts to hijack election process from states
Attorney General Todd Rokita is co-leading 16 states in fighting federal interference with election laws after U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland vowed to deploy armies of lawyers into the states to combat “legislative measures that make it harder for millions of eligible voters to vote.”
“The Biden administration is weaponizing the U.S. Department of Justice against the states,” Attorney General Rokita said. “These actions pose a direct threat to democracy, election integrity and the rule of law. We will stand up and defend our rightful authority within the framework of American federalism.”
Speaking in March, Garland said he had “double[d] the number of lawyers in the civil rights division” and “launched the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force” to deal with states allegedly maintaining “discriminatory, burdensome, and unnecessary restrictions on access to the ballot.”
Attorney General Rokita and West Virgina Attorney General Patrick Morrisey co-led a 16-state letter to Garland warning that the states would “vigorously defend our election laws” and “not allow intimidation and fearmongering to supersede the will of the people.”
The very premise of Garland’s threats — the idea that states are depriving or hindering U.S. citizens from freely and easily casting votes — is false and ludicrous, the letter notes.
One of the measures at which Garland and others have taken aim is voter ID laws — which they claim disenfranchise eligible voters.
“On the contrary,” the letter states, “voter ID laws prevent voter fraud by stopping those who attempt to impersonate others at the polls. In 2005, Indiana led the charge to preserve election integrity by implementing the first-in-the-nation voter ID law, which requires in-person voters to present a valid government-issued photo ID to vote — (and) the United States Supreme Court held that voter ID laws were constitutional and did not impose a burden on the electorate.”
Amid reports of fraud in various parts of the nation, many Americans distrust the results of the 2020 general election. Some polls indicate more than 30 percent of the electorate believe the election was stolen.
“With voter confidence at an all-time low,” Attorney General Rokita said, “the U.S. Department of Justice should champion voter security measures instead of attacking states that implement them. And the DOJ should respect, as well, the constitutional provisions giving states the role of regulating elections.”
The full letter is attached.
Attorney General Todd Rokita launches massive lawsuit against manufacturers of ‘forever chemicals’
Companies sought to conceal overwhelming evidence of severe health risks, lawsuit alleges
Attorney General Todd Rokita recently announced a lawsuit against 22 companies that continued manufacturing substances known as “forever chemicals” despite these same companies possessing overwhelming evidence the substances posed serious health risks.
“We’re taking action today to hold these companies accountable for their clear violation of laws designed to protect human health,” Attorney General Todd Rokita said. “For decades, they sought to hide research showing that their products were extremely dangerous to people everywhere, including Hoosiers. And they did it so they could make million-dollar profits at the cost of our health and well-being.”
The companies manufactured a category of water-resistant substances known as PFAS — an acronym for “per- and polyfluoralkyl substances.” PFAS are used in the making of non-stick cookware, stain-resistant carpets and clothing, and firefighting foam.
These chemicals do not degrade easily in the environment — hence their classification as “forever chemicals.” Once PFAS are used, these toxic and hazardous substances remain in the environment and contaminate air, drinking water, groundwater and soil. They are difficult and costly to remove.
The level of PFAS in animals and humans can also increase as they are consumed up the food chain — a process known as biomagnification.
Testimony from former employees and other evidence have shown that over several decades companies actively sought to hide internal research highlighting their products’ harm to consumers.
In recent years, public-health scientists have linked PFAS exposure to cancer, infertility, and childhood developmental issues. National blood sampling by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found PFAS in the blood of nearly every person tested since 1999.
“Addressing the PFAS emergency that Defendants have caused requires substantial effort and expense to investigate, treat, and remediate the contamination,” Indiana’s lawsuit states. “The Defendants who created and profited from the creation of this problem must pay to address the PFAS contamination throughout the State.”
The lawsuit is being filed in Shelby County, where a 2022 site Investigation at the Shelbyville Army Aviation Support Facility found that PFAS contamination was likely caused by defendants’ aqueous film-forming foam (“AFFF”) — a product used for firefighting training and emergency response.
Elsewhere in the state, Grissom Air Reserve Base and Fort Benjamin Harrison are likewise contaminated as a result of AFFF, with elevated levels of PFAS detected in soil, sediment, surface water, and/or groundwater near fire training areas, fire stations and hangars.
Sampling conducted by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management between March 2021 and December 2023 revealed levels of PFAS above EPA Health Advisory Levels in public drinking water in the following counties: Bartholomew, Carroll, Cass, Clark, Crawford, Decatur, Elkhart, Floyd, Gibson, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Lake, Laporte, Madison, Marion, Perry, Posey, Scott, St. Joseph, Sullivan, Vigo and Warrick.
The companies have violated state and federal environmental regulations, the lawsuit contends, in addition to other laws such as the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act and the Indiana Product Liability Act.
Watch Attorney General Rokita's live press event announcing the lawsuit here.
The lawsuit is attached.
Attorney General Todd Rokita and State Senator Andy Zay announce advisory opinion clarifying Terminated Pregnancy Reports are public records
Attorney General Todd Rokita has issued an official advisory opinion clarifying that Terminated Pregnancy Reports (TPRs) are public records open to inspection — though the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) can and should redact any information that could reasonably identify a pregnant woman.
Indiana State Senator Andy Zay requested the advisory opinion from the Attorney General’s Office after IDOH refused to disclose the public records necessary to improve maternal life and ensure providers are complying with Indiana’s pro-life laws.
“My colleagues and I in the General Assembly passed the first in the nation pro-life law after Roe v. Wade was overturned,” Senator Zay said. “Now, the actions of unelected bureaucrats have made that law unenforceable.”
Lack of public access to these reports impedes the ability of the Attorney General to perform its statutory duties of investigating complaints against medical providers — thereby undermining the public interest.
“As the entity charged with overseeing medical licensing complaints, our office has long relied on these reports to investigate medical provider complaints,” Attorney General Rokita said. “If IDOH refuses to disclose them, it is impossible to ensure that providers are complying with the law.”
The decision by IDOH to seek, and rely on, a faulty opinion from the Public Access Counselor declaring TPRs confidential medical records appears to represent an abrupt change in policy and practice by the state agency.
Attorney General Rokita expressed appreciation to Sen. Zay for his persistence in making sure the record was set straight.
“As someone who has participated in legislative deliberations about these reports,” Sen. Zay said, “I can confirm that it was never the Indiana General Assembly’s intent to make them secret and render them useless.”
Information contained in the reports can provide such insights as the age of the fetus at the time of abortion, whether the pregnant woman sought the abortion as a result of abuse or trafficking, and the age of the pregnant woman (which may help indicate possible child sexual abuse). Broader quarterly reports with aggregated data lack such details.
The advisory opinion makes clear that, in Indiana, maintaining open and transparent government is a cornerstone of public policy.
“The TPRs can be redacted,” the advisory opinion states, “to balance the privacy concern regarding the pregnant woman who received an abortion, the public’s right to inspection of public records, and the need of enforcement agencies to review these documents to monitor compliance with laws or investigate complaints and allegations that such laws were violated.”
Watch Attorney General Rokita's live press event announcing the opinion here.
The full advisory opinion is attached.
Attorney General Todd Rokita leads multistate inquiry into financial company’s ties to Chinese Communist Party
Webull Financial LLC may have exposed customers’ personal data to CCP
Attorney General Todd Rokita is leading a multistate inquiry into whether a Chinese-owned financial company — Webull Financial LLC — may have exposed clients’ personal information to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“Hoosiers and the rest of the American public deserve to know more about Webull’s ownership and connections to the CCP,” Attorney General Rokita said. “As Indiana’s Attorney General, I have pledged since Day One to hold China accountable, and we are making good on that commitment.”
On behalf of Hoosiers, Attorney General Rokita previously brought a complaint against Chinese-owned social media company TikTok for allegedly violating data privacy laws and deceiving app users into believing their information is protected when that data is subject to Chinese law and may be intercepted by the CCP.
On March 13, 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which would ban TikTok from operating in the U.S. unless it separates from its Chinese owner, ByteDance. The Act is now working its way through the Senate.
“Webull’s data protection practices and representations also warrant serious scrutiny,” Attorney General Rokita said. “In fact, Webull appears to collect more personally identifiable information and sensitive financial data from U.S. customers than TikTok.”
The company is a U.S.-registered broker-dealer that allows customers to trade U.S. stocks, options, and certain cryptocurrencies. Webull is owned by Hunan Fumi Information Technology Co., a Chinese company, and it appears to conduct substantial operations for its U.S. business using personnel and resources located directly in the People’s Republic of China.
In a letter to Webull’s CEO, Attorney General Rokita and the other attorneys general request answers from the company to 11 questions in order to shed more light on its data protection practices on behalf of customers.
The full letter is attached.
Attorney General Todd Rokita marches in support of consumers, raising awareness of harmful household products recalled in March
Attorney General Todd Rokita is alerting Hoosiers of important consumer protection concerns for products recalled in March. The office encourages consumers to take advantage of opportunities available for those who purchase recalled items that could be harmful to their families.
“The biggest concern of any parent is the safety and wellbeing of their children,” Attorney General Rokita said. “You might think you’re getting a good deal but if you invest in a flawed product, it could lead to a devastating disaster. If you have difficulty finding a solution for your recalled product, call my office immediately.”
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the following consumer products were recalled in March:
If you believe you recently purchased a recalled product, stop using it, and check its recall notice (linked above for all products). Then follow the notice’s instructions, including where to return the product, how to get the product fixed, how to dispose of the product, how to receive a refund for the product, or what steps must be taken to receive a replacement product.
To view recalls issued prior to March visit the Consumer Protection Safety Commission website.
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