Washington, D.C. — Congress is currently preparing to vote on the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (H.R.22/S.128), or the SAVE Act. While the SAVE Act has been characterized as a narrow bill to mandate proof of citizenship for voter registration, this legislation’s extreme documentation requirements would upend the most popular forms of voter registration and risk endangering all Americans’ freedom to vote and our democracy.

CLC’s Senior Vice President Bruce V. Spiva issued the following statement on the SAVE Act:  

“The freedom to vote is essential to our democracy. Americans are already required to verify their citizenship when registering to vote. The SAVE Act introduces more barriers to proving citizenship that would make registering and casting a ballot much harder for everyone — especially for voters who have been historically disenfranchised.

“Under this legislation, millions of voters would face unnecessary hurdles when trying to register, mail and online voter registration would be disrupted, harmful voter purges would be mandated, and nonpartisan election workers would face severe criminal penalties while trying to do their jobs. Our democracy is strongest when all voters can participate and have their voices heard.  

“Congress must reject the SAVE Act.”

Washington, DC — Today, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) and State Democracy Defenders Fund (SDDF) sued the Executive Office of the President and members of the president’s Cabinet on behalf of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Secure Families Initiative (SFI) and Arizona Students’ Association (ASA) — alleging a recent executive order far exceeds his powers and threatens the freedom to vote for millions of Americans.

Voting is a freedom guaranteed and protected by the Constitution. The president does not have the legal authority to adopt new registration or vote counting requirements via an executive order that restricts access to that freedom for U.S. citizens. These changes are anti-voter at their core and signal that the president and his administration are intent on changing the way we run elections by unlawfully disenfranchising U.S. citizens. Through this executive order, the president is attempting to act beyond his power and usurp the role of Congress and the states to set their own election laws.

“This executive order, based on nothing but years of disinformation, is blatantly unlawful and a naked attempt to suppress the votes of targeted communities – disproportionately impacting the Latino community,” said Roman Palomares, LULAC National President. “We are proud to join this coalition seeking to stop the effort to silence the voice and votes of the U.S. electorate–and particularly of voters of color. Our democracy depends on all voters feeling confident that they can vote freely and that their vote will be counted accurately.”

“The president’s executive order is an unlawful action that threatens to uproot our tried-and-tested election systems and silence potentially millions of Americans. It is simply not within the president’s authority to set election rules by executive decree, especially when they would restrict access to voting in this way,” said Danielle Lang, senior director of voting rights at Campaign Legal Center. “The Constitution is clear: States set their own rules of the road when it comes to elections, and only Congress has the power to override these laws with respect to federal elections. Campaign Legal Center, SDDF and our plaintiffs urge the courts to see this executive order for what it is: an unconstitutional executive overreach that threatens our freedom to vote.”

“Military families, veterans, caregivers, and overseas voters deserve secure access to the very democracy we serve to protect — no matter where we’re stationed or how we serve,” said Sarah Streyder, Executive Director of Secure Families Initiative. “This new order would mean that the veteran who is a full-time caretaker at home, who has done everything right, may now be shut out of the ballot box due to outdated paperwork. This new order would mean that the military family stationed on the other side of the world from home, who crossed every t and dotted every i — their military ID will no longer suffice, and due to mail delays outside of their control, their ballot will never count.”

“Donald Trump is attempting to wrongfully impede voting by millions of Americans with this latest unlawful executive order. But it will not work. In America voters get to pick their president – presidents don’t get to pick their voters,” said Ambassador Norm Eisen (ret.), the co-founder and executive chair of State Democracy Defenders Fund. “We are proud to stand up for the ability of every American voter to cast their ballots freely and fairly through this litigation.”

“The Arizona Students' Association has seen first hand what these egregious citizenship requirements really are, an attempt to suppress the vote. In Arizona we have a dual track federal registration system and the voters being affected by citizenship requirements are college students registering to vote for the first time, unsheltered voters, and Native voters. There are already extensive citizenship checks in place when registering to vote, Trump's EO is a clear attack on our voting rights. Our student members believe we should live in a country where it's accessible and convenient to be a part of democracy,” said Kyle Nitschke, co-executive director of Arizona Students’ Association.

The president’s order would silence tens of millions of Americans. This new order unlawfully seeks to impose burdensome barriers on U.S. citizens just trying to exercise their constitutional right to vote by requiring redundant paperwork, and by shrinking the timeline in which voters can return our ballots. President Trump’s executive order is an attempt to take control of our elections, and it threatens the right to vote for millions of everyday Americans.

Additionally, the president’s order includes a familiar target: independent agencies. This time, the Election Assistance Commission (EAC). The EAC was created by Congress to support election officials with election administration and “help Americans participate in the voting process,” not make it harder for Americans to vote. The President has no authority to interfere with the EAC.

The demands in President Trump’s executive order are illegal. Read more about our lawsuit here.

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The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center advances democracy through law. We safeguard the freedom to vote, defend voters’ right to know who is spending money to influence elections, and work to ensure public trust in our elected officials.

Learn more about CLC. Don't miss out on our latest resources: Subscribe to President Trevor Potter's newsletter on LinkedIn or email, tune in to the latest season of our award-winning podcast, Democracy Decoded, and join our livestreamed events. 

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 25, 2025, about voting that threatens millions of Americans’ freedom to vote. 

The order severely limits access to voting by requiring voters to jump through unnecessary hoops when registering to vote; requiring election officials to use unreliable data sources to remove eligible voters from the rolls; and withholding federal funding from states that lawfully accept mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day but received later. 

Jonathan Diaz, director for voting advocacy and partnerships at Campaign Legal Center, issued the following statement in response: 

“Our democracy works best when every American can participate. Voting is a fundamental American freedom. 

The president doesn't have the authority to adopt policies via executive order to restrict access to voting. This latest executive order is an unlawful power grab that would create major barriers to the ballot for U.S. citizens. 

We already have strict laws in place to protect the security of our elections. Elected officials need to be working to protect, rather than restrict, this fundamental right.” 

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Campaign Legal Center is a nonpartisan legal organization dedicated to solving the wide range of challenges facing American democracy. Founded in 2002, CLC fights for every American’s freedom to vote and participate meaningfully in the democratic process. 

Learn more about CLC. Don't miss out on our latest resources: Subscribe to President Trevor Potter's newsletter on LinkedIn or email, tune in to the latest season of our award-winning podcast, Democracy Decoded, and join our livestreamed events.

Washington, D.C. — Today, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a complaint with the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) and ethics officials at the U.S. Department of Commerce, urging them to hold U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick accountable for encouraging viewers of Fox News to buy stock in Tesla Wednesday evening. Lutnick’s promotion of the car company owned by Elon Musk, a megadonor to President Donald Trump and leader of the so-called U.S. DOGE Service (DOGE), violates federal ethics rules.  

“The president’s Cabinet members take an oath to serve the American people, and with that oath comes the ability and privilege to exercise a vast amount of power,” Kedric Payne, vice president, general counsel, and senior director of ethics at Campaign Legal Center said in a statement. “Secretary Lutnick’s actions violate the ethics rules that were enacted to hold public officials accountable to the American people. The Office of Government Ethics and Commerce ethics officials should hold Lutnick accountable and reassure the public that their officials will face consequences if they use their public office to enrich themselves or their allies.”  

Executive branch officials are prohibited from using their public office to promote any product, service or enterprise. Therefore, Secretary Lutnick violated well-established federal ethics rules by using a television appearance to call on Americans to buy a specific stock while serving in his official capacity as Commerce secretary.  

Secretary Lutnick’s promotion of Tesla stock follows a concerning pattern of President Trump and his allies using the system to reward wealthy special interests with political favors and extreme influence.  

Senior officials of this administration have thousands of documented conflicts of interest, while robust ethics enforcement appears to be absent. This is a stark contrast to even the first Trump administration, which despite its routine ignoring of ethics rules, still had White House ethics lawyers rebuke Kellyanne Conway for promoting products by Ivanka Trump.

Executive branch officials hold some of the most powerful positions in government and they owe it to the America people to make the public good, not wealthy special interests, their top priority. The Office of Government Ethics and Commerce ethics officials must ensure that Secretary Lutnick is held accountable for a clear violation of federal ethics rules.

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Campaign Legal Center is a nonpartisan legal organization dedicated to solving the wide range of challenges facing American democracy. Founded in 2002, CLC fights for every American’s freedom to vote and participate meaningfully in the democratic process.

Learn more about CLC. Don't miss out on our latest resources: Subscribe to President Trevor Potter's newsletter on LinkedIn or email, tune in to the latest season of our award-winning podcast, Democracy Decoded, and join our livestreamed events.

Washington, D.C. — In an appearance on Fox News yesterday evening, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick encouraged viewers to buy stock in Tesla, the car company owned by Elon Musk, a “special government employee” advising the president and a leader of the so-called U.S. DOGE Service (DOGE). 

This continues a worrying pattern, seen since Inauguration Day, of President Donald Trump and his allies attempting to manipulate the system to enrich wealthy donors. Thus far, the second Trump administration has opened the door to a culture of corruption that rewards wealthy special interests with political favors and extreme influence. 

Even Trump’s first administration acknowledged that government officials are prohibited from endorsing “any product, service or enterprise” when White House ethics lawyers rebuked Kellyanne Conway for promoting Ivanka Trump’s products. But the new administration has senior officials with thousands of documented conflicts of interest and apparently no ethics enforcement. By using a television appearance, while in his official capacity as Commerce secretary, to call on Americans to buy a specific stock, Secretary Lutnick has clearly violated well-established federal ethics rules. 

Kedric Payne, vice president, general counsel, and senior director for ethics at Campaign Legal Center, issued the following statement: 

“The president’s Cabinet members take an oath to serve the American people, and with that oath comes the ability and privilege to exercise a vast amount of power. Such power is intended to promote the public interest and is legally barred from promoting personal business interests. 

“Secretary Lutnick’s actions violate the ethics rules that were enacted to hold public officials accountable to the American people. His statement is part of a pattern of behavior showing that Trump’s indifference to ethics is trickling down to his most senior officials. 

“The American people deserve a government that prioritizes public good. Most people will conclude that promoting a stock is not tied to any public good and ethics laws agree. The Office of Government Ethics and Commerce ethics officials should hold Lutnick accountable and reassure the public that their officials will face consequences if they use their public office to enrich themselves or their allies.”

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Campaign Legal Center is a nonpartisan legal organization dedicated to solving the wide range of challenges facing American democracy. Founded in 2002, CLC fights for every American’s freedom to vote and participate meaningfully in the democratic process.

Learn more about CLC. Don't miss out on our latest resources: Subscribe to President Trevor Potter's newsletter on LinkedIn or email, tune in to the latest season of our award-winning podcast, Democracy Decoded, and join our livestreamed events.