Defending Fair Redistricting in New York
LWV New York filed an amicus brief urging the New York Court of Appeals to reverse a decision ordering the New York State Independent Redistricting Commission to redraw New York’s congressional maps before the 2024 elections. The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the decision and ordered the IRC to submit new a new congressional redistricting plan to the state legislature by Feb. 28, 2024.
Defending Fair Redistricting in New York
LWV New York filed an amicus brief in a state court lawsuit brought by several New York voters who argued the state’s congressional maps were illegally enacted and an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. The state’s independent redistricting commission had submitted congressional maps to the legislature, which rejected them. Subsequently, the commission failed to submit a second set of maps under the procedures outlined in the state constitution, and the legislature passed its own maps. The plaintiffs then filed their lawsuit. The League’s amicus brief argued the legislature was not allowed to pass its own maps after the commission failed to act and suggested the courts appoint an independent expert to draw the maps instead.
Protecting Voters from Intimidation
LWV Minnesota and CAIR Minnesota filed a federal lawsuit against Atlas Aegis, a private security firm which placed advertisements for hiring former special operations service members as armed guards to “protect” polling places, businesses, and residents from looting and destruction by “Antifa” elements. The plaintiffs asserted such actions constituted voter intimidation in violation of Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Protecting the Legislative Process, Trans Rights, and Reproductive Freedom
LWV Nebraska filed an amicus brief in the Nebraska Supreme Court supporting plaintiffs who asserted LB 574, a bill that combined restrictions on gender-affirming care with a 12-week abortion ban, was unconstitutionally enacted in violation of the state constitution’s single-subject rule for bills.
Fighting Racist Disenfranchisement
LWVUS, LWV Mississippi, and eleven other civil rights organizations filed an amicus brief supporting plaintiffs who asserted Mississippi’s permanent felony disenfranchisement law violated the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. The amici argued the law, which permanently stripped voting rights from citizens convicted of a wide variety of crimes, disproportionately affected Black Mississippians and created a cycle of disenfranchisement and underrepresentation rooted in racism.
Protecting Voters with Disabilities
LWV Ohio and Jennifer Kucera, an Ohio voter with muscular dystrophy, filed a federal lawsuit against several provisions of HB 458. The provisions state that any person that did not fall within certain statutory categories could be charged with a felony if they assisted a voter with returning their absentee ballot. LWV Ohio and Ms. Kucera asserted the provision violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and was unconstitutionally vague under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.