In response to CLC’s FOIA Request, the Office of Information Policy (OIP) of the Department of Justice filed a Declaration detailing OIP’s efforts to comply with CLC’s FOIA Request. The Declaration included a Vaughn Index, which listed a description of documents withheld or redacted by OIP, along with the applicable legal exemptions that they claimed as justification for withholding or redacting the documents.

In response to CLC’s FOIA Request, the Justice Management Division of the Department of Justice filed a Declaration detailing JMD’s efforts to comply with CLC’s FOIA Request. The Declaration included a Vaughn Index, which listed a description of documents withheld or redacted by JMD, along with the applicable legal exemptions that they claimed as justification for withholding or redacting the documents.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) moved for summary judgment with respect to CLC’s case challenging the adequacy of DOJ’s response to CLC’s FOIA Request to the Justice Management Division (JMD), Civil Rights Division (CRD) and Office of Information Policy (OIP).

On May 16, 2019, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) filed its Answer to CLC’s Complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

On May 9, 2019, CLC, along with its co-counsel in League of Women Voters of Tennessee v. Hargett, filed suit against Tennessee challenging the state’s new voter registration law, known as House Bill 1079-Senate Bill 971. The law imposes some of the most stringent regulations on community organized voter registration activity in the county, accompanied by steep civil fines and criminal penalties any violation, no matter how small. Together with co-counsel, CLC represents the League of Women Voters of Tennessee, Mid-South Peace and Justice Center, the American Muslim Advisory Council, Rock the Vote, and Spread the Vote in challenging the new law, which plainly violates the First Amendment speech and associational rights of the Plaintiffs by chilling their voter registration activity.

On May 9, 2019, CLC, along with its co-counsel in League of Women Voters of Tennessee v. Hargett, sent a letter to Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett and Tennessee Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins informing them that the state’s new voter registration law, known as House Bill 1079-Senate Bill 971, violates the National Voter Registration Act (“NVRA”). The letter provides formal notice of the ways in which the law imposes unjustified restrictions on community-based voter registration, in violation of the NVRA. As the letter explains, the state law’s voter registration restrictions conflict with and are therefore preempted by the NVRA.

CLC filed an amended complaint on behalf of individuals against the City of Virginia Beach. Virginia Beach City Council, the City Manager and the Director of Elections/General Registrar challenging the at-large election system used to elect members of the City Council.

CLC reached a final settlement agreement with the state of Texas on behalf of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and Julie Hilberg in our lawsuit, LULAC v. Whitley. The lawsuit challenged Secretary of State David Whitley's flawed voter purge program, which targeted naturalized citizens and threatened the voting rights of tens of thousands of Texans. As part of the agreement, the state will no longer be permitted to use stale driver license data to question the citizenship of newly naturalized American citizens. Instead, it may only flag individuals who first registered to vote and later provided evidence of non U.S. citizenship to the Texas Department of Safety for further follow up. 

CLC joined a coalition of organizations to write in opposition of a bill that proposes new restrictions and penalties for voter registration drives in Tennessee. The bill puts onerous criminal and civil penalties on honest civic engagement efforts. This letter was sent to members of the Tennessee General Assembly on April 15, 2019.

On April 11, 2019, CLC filed a Complaint against U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking an injunction requiring ICE to comply with CLC’s October 2, 2019 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request. CLC’s FOIA Request sought documents regarding ICE’s search for voter registration information in North Carolina as part of a broader federal pursuit of evidence of non-citizen voting. 

On December 21, 2018, CLC sent a letter to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seeking an update on the status of CLC's October 2, 2018 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request. As of the date of that letter, ICE had failed to substantively respond to CLC's FOIA Request by providing a timeline for production of documents responsive to CLC's FOIA Request. At that time, ICE had also not yet made a determination on CLC's Request for Expedited Processing. 

On October 2, 2018, CLC filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). CLC's FOIA Request sought information related to ICE's attempts to gather voter registration and individual voter information from state and county officials in North Carolina. 

CLC submitted the attached letter to all 40 members of the Florida Senate, urging them to reject or make significant changes to recently introduced legislation regarding Florida’s felony disenfranchisement and rights restoration laws. The bill, SB 7086, would impose significant obstacles on people seeking to have their rights restored, including overbroad definitions of “murder” for purposes of rights restoration and what is required for “completion” of a sentence. The bill would also require the repayment of significant financial obligations before a person is eligible to have their voting rights restored. SB 7086 represents an attempt by the Florida Senate to undermine the Rights Restoration Amendment passed by Florida voters in November 2018.

CLC submitted the attached letter to all 117 members of the Florida House of Representatives, urging them to reject or make significant changes to recently introduced legislation regarding Florida’s felony disenfranchisement and rights restoration laws. The bill, HB 7089, would impose significant obstacles on people seeking to have their rights restored, including an overbroad definition of what is required for “completion” of a sentence and requiring the repayment of significant financial obligations before a person is eligible to have their voting rights restored. HB 7089 represents an attempt by the Florida House of Representatives to undermine the Rights Restoration Amendment passed by Florida voters in November 2018.  

In Alabama, the law regarding which people with past convictions can and cannot vote has been confusing. In 2017, the Alabama Legislature passed a new law clarifying the rules and likely enfranchising tens of thousands or more Alabamians. There are likely tens of thousands more Alabamians with past convictions who are eligible to receive a mandatory voting rights restoration if they apply. But these laws will only empower voters if they know about their eligibility. Many people with convictions assume they are not eligible and many people with convictions have been wrongly told they are not eligible. This manual is designed to provide all the tools citizens with convictions, activists, and advocates need to help people in Alabama know if they can vote or to restore their right to vote.

This letter responds to CLC's FOIA Request from Feb. 15, 2017 about allegations of voter fraud during the 2016 presidential election.

On March 1, 2019, CLC's Adav Noti, senior director of trial litigation and chief of staff, submitted responses to questions for the record in the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary's HR 1 hearing.

On February 28, 2019, plaintiffs Spirit Lake Tribe, et al. submitted an amended complaint in the North Dakota voter ID residential address requirement case. It adds a new party (Standing Rock Sioux Tribe) and additional claims of discriminatory effect and intent by the legislature in adopting the voter ID law and residential address requirements.  

CLC sent a letter to Adam Bitter, General Counsel in the Office of the Texas Secretary of State, about the state's violation of the National Voter Registration Act, requesting documents concerning the implementation of programs and activities that led to the state's announcement of its voter purge program. The state initially tried to claim an exemption from the law in order to withhold documents from public scrutiny.

CLC and the Yale Law Clinic submitted written testimony to the Connecticut Government Administration and Elections Committee, to advocate for abolishing the requirement that some Connecticut residents pay fines in connection with a past conviction before regaining the right to vote. SB 22 would make Connecticut's voting system simpler and more just.