An update from DNC General Counsel Andie Levien (6/6/2025)

Last cycle, Republicans were relentless in their attacks on voting rights. The DNC was involved in over 40 voting rights cases during the 2024 cycle, and a huge portion of them were defensive, meaning we were intervening in cases brought by Republicans to challenge common sense election laws and sow doubt in our elections – in case they didn’t like the outcomes.

This cycle, many of those fights continue. We’re fighting illegal documentary proof of citizenship laws in states like Arizona and for the ability of states to count lawful mail ballots in states like Nevada and Pennsylvania. But we are also seeing a new trend emerge – the use of the federal government to attack our elections. 

Since Trump took back the presidency on January 20, he has used executive orders and his control over the Department of Justice to try to sow chaos in our elections and rig the field for Republicans.

First, Trump issued an executive order to take over all federal agencies, including independent agencies that Congress designed to be run by issue experts, free from the whims of the White House. In the order, Trump mandates that all agency personnel comply with his and his attorney general’s interpretations of the law and not further any interpretation that conflicts with their views.

Well, the Federal Election Commission, the agency that was created after Watergate to regulate campaign raising and spending, is one such agency that, on its face, is covered by the order. Which means that under the order, FEC commissioners, the experts who interpret federal campaign finance law, would be bound by the legal interpretations of Donald Trump, the leader of the Republican Party.

This put the Democratic Party in an untenable position, unable to operate with the understanding we’ve had for over 50 years that federal campaign finance laws will be interpreted and enforced in a bipartisan manner. So, along with our sister committees, the DSCC and DCCC, we sued, asking the court to block the order as applied to the FEC.

Our lawsuit pressured Trump’s DOJ to concede that the provision of federal campaign finance law that requires FEC commissioners to remain independent is constitutional – a harsh blow to the fringe unitary executive theory. The trial court judge dismissed our case in light of that concession, and emphasized that the courthouse doors remain open if changed circumstances show concrete action or impact on the FEC’s independence.

Second, we challenged Trump’s executive order that was clearly designed to make it harder for American citizens to vote. 

The order did a few things. First, it required an independent agency, the Election Assistance Commission, to amend its federal voter registration form to require documentary proof of citizenship. And not just any documentary proof of citizenship – under the order, producing a birth certificate or marriage license, without a government issued photo ID, would not be sufficient proof of citizenship. We know that these types of requirements can be harder for some voters to comply with, especially low income voters and voters who’ve changed their name after marriage.

Second, it required that federal agencies that are required by law to make the federal voter registration form available, assess the citizenship of enrollees in public assistance programs before providing them with the form. How are they supposed to make that assessment? The order doesn’t say.

Third, it granted DOGE access to the voter rolls to determine their accuracy.

And finally, it instructed the attorney general and the Election Assistance Commission to punish dozens of states that allow for the receipt of mail ballots after Election Day, including those cast by members of the military serving our country overseas.

Trump called this an order to protect election integrity, but it was clearly designed as an order to suppress the vote. We couldn’t stand idly by, so along with the DSCC, DCCC, Democratic Governors Association, and Leaders Schumer and Jeffries, we sued.

This is a big case and it will likely go on for many months, but we’ve already secured a crucial victory. In April, key parts of the order were blocked – the documentary proof of citizenship requirement and the requirement that enrollees in public assistance programs have their citizenship assessed before receiving a federal voter registration form. And I’m pleased to report that the Trump administration backed down – understanding what weak legal footing they were on, they chose not to appeal that injunction.

But this victory doesn’t mean Trump and his Department of Justice have given up. Two weeks ago, after decades of defending a critical campaign finance law, the coordinated party expenditure limits, Trump’s DOJ sided with the Republican Party and told the Supreme Court that it would not defend the limits. This was an unprecedented move by the Trump administration – a refusal to defend a law designed to curb political corruption because the President’s own party wants it struck down.

We understood what a dangerous precedent this would set, so we moved to intervene, asking the Supreme Court to decline the Republican’s challenge to the law, but if it does decide to take the case, to allow the Democratic Party to step in to defend it. We should know more about what the Supreme Court decides, and our role in the case, in the next few weeks.

And finally, just last week, the Department of Justice sued the state of North Carolina for alleged violations of the Help America Vote Act. I’m sure you all were following Alison Riggs’ Supreme Court race, which wasn’t certified for six months because Republican candidate Jefferson Griffin refused to accept defeat and concede. His and Republicans’ theory was that there were tens of thousands of North Carolina voters who had not submitted the last four digits of their social security number or their drivers license number when they registered to vote. The numbers they claimed were dubious, and in fact, all of Republicans’ pre-election efforts to challenge these voters failed. But Griffin was undeterred, and asked courts to remove these voters from the final vote tally in his race multiple times. Ultimately, a Trump-appointed federal judge put a stop to this, finding that the removal of these votes post-election would violate these voters due process rights. Griffin finally conceded, and Riggs was sworn in last month.

Now, a Trump-controlled DOJ has filed suit against the North Carolina Board of Elections over these registrations, and because the Board is now controlled by Republicans – the rights of these voters are potentially at risk again. The Democratic Party and our allies are exploring our options to protect these voters, and there may be more news on this soon.

Trump has been able to do all this in part through intimidation of Department of Justice lawyers. You may have seen news reports that there were 30 lawyers in the Civil Rights Division’s voting section on inauguration day. Now there are three. The lawyers who remain are being asked to challenge voting rights, rather than protect them, in direct contradiction of that section’s mission. 

It’s unacceptable, but luckily, departing lawyers aren’t giving up the fight. In fact, one of them, a DOJ attorney with 14 years of experience in the voting section, has recently accepted an offer to serve as the DNC’s new litigation director and will work closely with me and our new voter protection director to safeguard our democracy and fight back against the Trump administration. Things are dark, but we are not giving up this fight – not even close.