How the Lawyers’ Committee is Using the Federal Advisory Committee Act to Stop Trump’s Sham Election Integrity Commission
Yesterday, we filed a lawsuit against the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity for its failure to operate in a transparent manner under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).
Our lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order mandating the production of records before the Commission’s July 19th meeting, blocking the July 19th meeting until the Commission fulfills its obligations to disclose its documents, and ordering that all meetings be open to the public.
The suit comes after the Commission failed to respond to our previous request sent one week ago for documents regarding the Commission’s upcoming July 19th meeting — a meeting that will not be open to the public. Our suit alleges the Commission’s failure to disclose communications and make its meetings open to the public violates FACA.
The so-called Election Integrity Commission has been operating covertly and its actions, to date, have been shrouded in secrecy. Through FACA, we are using an important statutory tool to expose and curb the illegitimacy of this Commission and to bar the commencement of any meetings before they make materials available for our inspection. In our view, the Commission must not conduct any meetings before complying with our request, and will continue to fight to expose all of the Commission’s illegitimate actions.
Monday’s lawsuit, filed with co-counsel Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP in the United States District Court for District of Columbia, addresses the Commission’s lack of transparency on several fronts. It notes that the Commission’s upcoming July 19th meeting will not be open to the public, and exposes the Commission’s lack of oversight and accountability given that its unprecedented request for personal voter data was not accurately directed at statewide officials nor was it in compliance with many state privacy laws. The lawsuit additionally notes that the Commission failed to provide public notice or disclose details regarding its June 28th telephone conference meeting, during which the commission, led by Vice President Mike Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, approved a plan to request an unprecedented amount of voter data from statewide election officials.
Our team at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law has undertaken a series of comprehensive actions to challenge the Pence-Kobach Commission. This includes: the launch of a hotline for the public to report instances of voter suppression (866-OUR-VOTE); letters sent to Secretaries of State demanding they not comply with Mr. Kobach’s request for voter roll data; filing a Hatch Act complaint against Mr. Kobach regarding his repeated exploitation of his Commission role to solicit campaign contributions and promote his candidacy for Governor of Kansas; requesting documents regarding the Commission made pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA); and urging Secretaries of State to adopt a bipartisan resolution condemning the so-called Election Integrity Commission.
To read the complaint filed Monday, click here.
