Voting Rights Under Attack

This week, the Supreme Court issued its decision in the landmark voting rights case Louisiana v. Callais, gutting protections that are meant to ensure fair representation for Black voters and other voters of color.

In response to the Court’s decision, our Executive Director Chioma Chukwu released a statement warning that the ruling “drags us back to Jim Crow-style voter suppression and the racially discriminatory barriers” that the Voting Rights Act was enacted to end.

“For decades, civil rights protections have served as a guardrail against efforts to dilute voters’ power and manipulate representation, especially for Black, Indigenous, and other voters of color. Weakening these protections will make it harder for communities to elect leaders who will fight for strong schools, accessible health care, and real economic security, particularly at a moment when election rules are being rewritten, oversight bodies are being politicized, and partisan actors are openly pushing to entrench power at the expense of voters,” Chukwu said.

What did the IRS do after Trump told it to target Antifa?

We’re back in court this week, representing Protect Democracy in a suit against the IRS and the Treasury Department. 

Our story starts last fall, when Trump ordered government agencies to investigate groups with connections to “Antifa.” Experts warned that this was designed to target groups who oppose Trump, and many watchdogs — including American Oversight — pressed for details on how the government is defining Antifa or tracing connections.

In December, our partners at Protect Democracy sent the IRS a Freedom of Information Act request for any internal documents or policies they created in response to Trump’s Antifa executive order. The IRS’s role in the implementation of the executive order would be crucial, since Trump and other senior White House officials have repeatedly threatened the tax-exempt status of certain nonprofits and universities. However, the IRS responded to Protect Democracy’s request by claiming that it conducted a search and found no responsive records.

Our Executive Director Chioma Chukwu put it plainly, saying, “The IRS’s claim that it has no records explaining how it is implementing these directives defies common sense. Either the agency is ignoring the president’s orders or it is ignoring its obligations under FOIA to keep the public in the dark about its work.”  

Our lawsuit is simple: We want a thorough search, and for the agencies to release any non-exempt records.

This is our second suit in two weeks against the IRS and Treasury Department. Last week, we filed suit (again, representing Protect Democracy) seeking records that would reveal whether the White House has tried to direct the IRS to target any of the administration’s opponents through the tax system.

Next on the docket

We’ll be in court on Wednesday, May 13, to fight back against the Trump administration’s efforts to dodge the Presidential Records Act. We’re arguing for an emergency order to stop the administration from destroying or refusing to capture its records.

The law is clear: Presidential records belong to the American people, and the White House does not get to decide which of its documents are preserved, hidden, or destroyed. 

American Oversight in the news

• The fate of America’s presidential records is now in the courts’ hands (The Hill)
• Taxing dissent? Lawsuit demands to know if the IRS is secretly policing ‘Antifa’ (Tampa Free Press)
• Conservative SCOTUS ruling completely demolishes Voting Rights Act, Kagan says (Truthout)

Other stories we’re following

• Congress ends record shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security (NPR)
• Employment agency pushes discrimination cases that match Trump’s agenda (New York Times)
• FEMA’s disaster relief fund hits red zone ahead of hurricane season (CBS News)
• Trump pulls Dr. Casey Means’ nomination for surgeon general, announces replacement (NBC News)