Court Case

The New York Immigration Coalition led a coalition of groups in a challenge to President Trump’s attempt to exclude undocumented immigrants from the state-population totals that are produced by the 2020 Census and used for apportioning seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and votes in the Electoral College.

Common Cause et al., challenged President Trump’s attempt to exclude undocumented immigrants from the state-population totals that are produced by the 2020 Census and used for apportioning seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and votes in the Electoral College.

New York and a coalition of 20 states, cities and localities led a challenge to President Trump’s attempt to exclude undocumented immigrants from the state-population totals that are produced by the 2020 Census and used for apportioning seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and votes in the Electoral College.

PennFuture and the Sierra Club intervened as defendants in a lawsuit in which President Trump’s reelection campaign, the Republican National Committee, and several members of Congress have sued Pennsylvania’s secretary of the commonwealth and the county boards of elections in an attempt to bar the state from allowing voters to cast their mail ballots in official drop boxes. On October 10, 2020, the federal district court granted summary judgment in favor of Defendants and Defendant-Intervenors.

Recent months have seen a flood of voting rights litigation, much of it related to Covid-19’s impact on elections.

The Brennan Center filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to preserve New York’s recently enacted public financing program.

Three individual plaintiffs sued Michigan’s Secretary of State in connection with Secretary Benson’s mailing of absentee ballot applications to all Michigan voters for the August primary election and November general election. The Brennan Center for Justice filed amicus briefs in support of the Secretary of State. On August 25, 2020, the Michigan Court of Claims ruled that Secretary Benson had authority to send ballot applications to all Michigan voters; the Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed on September 16, 2020. On December 28, 2020, the Michigan Supreme Court denied plaintiffs’ application for leave to appeal.

Plaintiffs—the Republican National Committee, the National Republication Congressional Committee, and the California Republican Party—have sued California’s Governor and Secretary of State in connection with Governor Newsom’s executive order directing that mail ballots be sent to all California voters for the November general election. On July 9, 2020, the court issued an order granting the Plaintiffs’ request to voluntarily dismiss the case.

The Brennan Center filed two amicus briefs on behalf of former Massachusetts Judges urging ICE to halt its practice of making arrests in and around Massachusetts’ courthouses.

Eight Missouri citizens are challenging the summary statement of a proposed constitutional amendment that would undermine key provisions of the state’s citizen-initiated redistricting reform passed in 2018.