Campaign Legal Center, Justice Connection File Three Briefs Challenging Trump Administration Intimidation and Election Interference
WASHINGTON — Justice Connection — represented by the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center (CLC) — has filed three amicus briefs over the last several days to ensure voters are protected from state-sponsored voter intimidation efforts through Election Day.
Last night, Justice Connection and CLC filed amicus briefs in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the district court in SEIU v. Department of Justice (DOJ), to prevent unlawful interference in state election administration and protect the right for validly registered and eligible voters to cast their ballot. In this case, we are seeking to uphold a court order preventing the DOJ from intimidating or coercing election officials through unlawful threats.
We also filed a similar brief in a different case just days prior, in CNA v. Mullin. In this case, a federal court has already blocked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) from pursuing a door-to-door intimidation campaign that illegally targets naturalized citizens. Campaign Legal Center and Justice Connection filed our amicus brief to ensure the illegal program remains blocked as litigation continues.
In both of these cases, it is clear that the Trump administration and federal agencies are escalating their efforts to wield the powers of the state to silence voters and election workers, sow distrust and interfere in our elections. Our briefs highlight that the role of the federal government should be protecting against voter intimidation and enforcing laws that prevent it, not authorizing operations that clearly violate the law and the rights of American voters and civil servants who facilitate elections in the lead-up to Election Day.
"The Justice Department has a duty to ensure federal actions don't scare voters away or interfere with the state administration of elections,” said Stacey Young, executive director and founder of Justice Connection. “Continuing to send threatening letters to local election officials and defending voter intimidation programs when courts have already ruled against them runs counter to not just DOJ's election policies, but also its commitment to uphold the rule of law."
“The role of the federal government should be to safeguard our elections. Yet, with just hours to go until Election Day, the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security are unrelenting in seeking to reinstate their intimidation campaigns,” said Dana Paikowsky, senior legal counsel for voting rights at Campaign Legal Center. “The courts have already made it clear that these campaigns by executive branch agencies to undermine confidence in our elections are illegal. For the rule of law to hold, courts at every level must serve as a check on this administration and prevent and condemn any and all efforts to interfere in our elections through intimidation.”
Background:
On October 21, 2026, in California Nurses Association (CNA) v. Mullin, a federal judge temporarily blocked a harmful voter-investigation program — which included door-to-door operations by the Department of Homeland Security — ruling that the agency cannot conduct such field operations until the election concludes. The Trump administration appealed this order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit seeking to reinstate this program.
Campaign Legal Center and Justice Connection filed an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit in California Nurses Association (CNA) v. Mullin on October 29, 2026. On October 30, 2026, the Ninth Circuit declined to pause the district court’s preliminary injunction, allowing the program to remain blocked through Election Day.
Campaign Legal Center and Justice Connection also filed two additional amicus briefs in the Ninth Circuit and in the district court in SEIU v. DOJ on November 1, 2026.
In both cases, the briefs focus on the importance of the federal government enforcing voter intimidation laws and highlight the alarming sea change wherein the federal government has now embarked on several coercion and intimidation campaigns, instead of seeking to prevent them.
Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act protects against voter intimidation, threats and coercion, and it historically has been the federal government’s job to ensure these protections. More information about the laws preventing voter intimidation and what voters can do is available here.
If voters feel intimidated, they should report what happened, where and when it happened, and who intimidated them to the national, nonpartisan Election Protection coalition, in which Campaign Legal Center participates, at 866-OUR-VOTE.
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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.
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