DC sues over Trump administration's attempted takeover of city police
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb is suing the Trump administration after the Department of Justice ordered a new 'emergency' head of District police, calling it 'unlawful.'
'By illegally declaring a takeover of MPD, the Administration is abusing its temporary, limited authority under the law,' Schwalb wrote in an X post Friday. 'This is the gravest threat to Home Rule DC has ever faced, and we are fighting to stop it.'
The suit, filed in federal court, is the biggest pushback from city officials since President Donald Trump invoked a provision of the Home Rule Act — the 1970s law that allows for limited self-governance by D.C.'s government — which allows the president to request MPD's services to address 'special conditions of an emergency nature.'
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Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
DOJ demands sensitive Illinois voter registration data after state responds
The U.S. Department of Justice is insisting Illinois election officials hand over the state's entire computerized voter registration database, including sensitive information such as driver's license and partial Social Security numbers. In a letter dated Thursday, Aug. 14, an attorney in the department's Civil Rights Division rejected the Illinois State Board of Elections' offer of a partially redacted database – the same data that state law allows political committees and other governmental agencies to access – insisting that federal authorities are entitled to the complete, unredacted data. 'We have received Illinois's statewide voter registration list ('VRL'),' Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon wrote. 'However, as the Attorney General requested, the electronic copy of the statewide VRL must contain all fields, including the registrant's full name, date of birth, residential address, his or her state driver's license number or the last four digits of the registrant's social security number as required under the Help America Vote Act ('HAVA') to register individuals for federal elections.' The letter indicated DOJ was making the request under a provision of the National Voter Registration Act, also known as the 'Motor Voter Act,' a 1993 law that was intended to make it easier for people to register whenever they conducted other government business such as obtaining a driver's license or renewing their vehicle registration. 'Our request is pursuant to the Attorney General's authority under Section 11 of the NVRA to bring enforcement actions,' the letter stated. The letter also cited the 2002 Help America Vote Act. Passed in the wake of the controversial 2000 election between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore, that law made sweeping changes to the nation's voting processes, including new requirements about how states must maintain accurate and up-to-date voter registration databases. 'Not entitled to demand' DOJ first requested a copy of the Illinois database in a July 28 letter. That was a few weeks after the agency filed what's known as a 'statement of interest' in a civil lawsuit that the conservative legal activist group Judicial Watch, along with other plaintiffs, had filed against the state board, alleging it was not meeting its duties under HAVA to maintain the voter database. In that initial letter, DOJ also requested the names of all election officials in the state who are responsible for maintaining the registration list. It also asked the state to identify the number of people removed from the registration list during the 2022 election cycle because they were noncitizens, adjudicated incompetent or due to felony convictions. David Becker, a former attorney in the DOJ's voting section who now runs the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research, told Capitol News Illinois last month that the letter is similar to requests filed in multiple other states and that it goes far beyond the Justice Department's legal authority. 'The Department of Justice asked for the complete voter file for the state of Illinois, including all fields in that file, which is an absolutely huge file that contains so much sensitive data about Illinois citizens, including driver's license numbers, Social Security numbers and dates of birth that the Department of Justice is not entitled to receive and not entitled to demand,' he said in an interview. 'They know this. Other states have told them this, and yet they continue to seek to receive this information, citing sections of federal law that don't apply and don't require that.' Illinois' initial response The State Board of Elections responded to that request Aug. 11 with answers to DOJ's questions as well as an electronic copy of what it described as the statewide voter registration list. However, the board also cited a state statute that limits what the agency can disclose from the centralized registration list. A spokesperson for the board said in an email that the law allows the release of two types of data files. One, available only to political committees or 'a governmental entity for a governmental purpose,' includes the voters' names and addresses, their age at the time the registration was completed, the voting jurisdictions in which they reside, and their voting history. That includes elections in which they voted and, in the case of primary elections, which party's ballot they selected. That is the list the state board provided to DOJ. The board also waived the normal $500 fee it charges for providing the list. Another version of the file, available to the general public, contains much of the same information, but only the name of the street on which they live, not their exact street address. But neither file, the spokesman said, contains voters' personal identification information used to verify voter registrations such as driver's license numbers or Social Security numbers. DOJ, Pritzker respond In its letter Thursday, however, DOJ said the list that the elections board provided was insufficient. 'In charging the Attorney General with enforcement of the voter registration list requirements in HAVA and the NVRA, Congress plainly intended that DOJ be able to conduct an independent review of each state's list,' Dhillon wrote. 'Any statewide prohibitions are preempted by federal law.' The letter directed the board to provide the information by Aug. 21. The board spokesman said the latest DOJ letter is 'under review.' On Monday, Pritzker declined to say whether the board's decision to provide the partially redacted database was the correct one. But he also accused the Trump administration of ulterior motives. 'Well, it's clear why they're hunting around for voter data, right? They're trying to say that in the next election, that there will be fraud because they know they're going to lose,' he said at an unrelated bill signing. 'They are looking, essentially, to say that, well, we found somebody who died who's still on the rolls, and therefore there's fraud, and therefore these elections are fraudulent and should be overturned.' He also defended Illinois' decentralized election system. 'We have, actually, one of the safest, best systems in the entire country, because it's run by individual county clerks so it's unhackable,' he said. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
5 hours ago
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Trump admin backs down on DC police control after striking deal
Washington officials and the Justice Department negotiated a deal at a judge's urging Friday that prevented full federal control of the city's police department over the weekend, but left underlying legal disputes unresolved. Justice Department officials agreed to rewrite a Thursday order from Attorney General Pam Bondi that named Drug Enforcement Administration head Terry Cole as emergency police commissioner, cutting the mayor and existing police chief out of the chain of command. The rewritten order will name Cole as Bondi's 'designee for requesting services' from the police department. 'We think that solves the problem and that's what we're planning to do immediately,' Justice Department attorney Yaakov Roth said. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes indicated at a hearing Friday she would grant the D.C. attorney general's request for a temporary restraining order if the Justice Department did not follow through on rewriting the order by Friday evening. The hearing came after city officials sued the Trump administration earlier Friday over the directive to take over control of the Metropolitan Police Department. 'In the interim, Mr. Cole is not going to be able to direct police department individuals to do anything,' Reyes, a Biden appointee, said. 'He's going to have to go through the mayor.' Reyes indicated she will hold a hearing next week on other remaining legal questions. "I still do not understand on what basis the president … can say 'You, police department, can't do anything unless I say you can.' That cannot be the reading of the statute,' Reyes said. Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said she was surprised to receive Bondi's order, which came without notice Thursday night. 'What we know is that D.C. residents are worried and concerned and we have a surge of federal officers,' Bowser said. 'Chief Smith's job during this week has been to make sure that if we have and while we have federal officers, that they are being used strategically, and while we aren't controlling them, we do have the ability to influence how they're being deployed.' A 1973 federal law known as the Home Rule Act permits the president, in times of emergency, to seek services from the D.C. police for federal purposes. But city officials say Trump's power to do so is sharply limited and must be done in cooperation with city officials, rather than through a hostile takeover that includes rescinding and rewriting local laws and rules. Reyes agreed, emphasizing the difference between seeking services — which the mayor must provide — and commandeering the entire department. "The statute would have no meaning at all if the president could just say we're taking over your police department,' Reyes said. Arguing for the Trump administration, Roth said the language of the Home Rule Act allows Trump broad discretion to direct MPD — and likely can't be subject to review by the courts. While adjourning for a break in the hearing, Reyes urged the parties to reach a deal that wouldn't require her to rule on the city's request for a restraining order. Those negotiations stretched on for about 90 minutes, as the mayor and other local officials waited in the courtroom. Stanley Woodward, a Bondi advisor and nominee for the No. 3 position at the Justice Department, arrived at the courthouse during the break and was seen participating in the negotiations. D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed the lawsuit in federal court Friday after the Justice Department ordered Cole to assume 'all the powers and duties' of MPD police chief Pamela Smith as the 'Emergency Police Commissioner.' Schwalb directed Smith to disregard the orders, issued by Bondi, and said MPD officers 'must continue to follow your orders.' Trump on Monday issued an executive order to invoke his authority under the Home Rule Act, the first president to do so since the act was signed into law. He also deployed the National Guard to the city. City officials said they had held off on taking legal action immediately because the language in Trump's executive order largely did not stray from that of the Home Rule Act. But disrupting the MPD's chain of command by appointing Cole — and therefore undermining Smith — was an overreach not legally permitted, Schwalb argued. 'The Administration's actions are brazenly unlawful,' Schwalb wrote on X Friday. 'They infringe on the District's right to self-governance and put the safety of DC residents and visitors at risk.' In a statement, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said the Trump administration has the 'lawful authority to assert control over' MPD. Jacob Wendler contributed to this report. Solve the daily Crossword
Chicago Tribune
5 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Trump administration partially retreats from a takeover of Washington's police. Here's what to know.
Federal troops are patrolling the National Mall and neighborhoods across Washington while President Donald Trump's administration exerts extraordinary power over law enforcement in the nation's capital. But the administration backed down from an attempt to take over the city's police department by installing its own emergency police commissioner after a federal judge indicated she would rule against it. The partial retreat interrupted one aspect of the most sweeping uses of federal authority over a local government in modern times. How it will play out and whether the federal government will use this experience as a potential blueprint for dealing with other cities remains up in the air. Here's what to know about the situation and what might come next: The Republican president this week announced he's taking control over Washington's police department and activating National Guard troops to reduce crime, an escalation of his aggressive approach to law enforcement. But District of Columbia officials say the action isn't needed, pointing out that violent crime in the district reached historic 30-year lows last year and is down significantly again this year. D.C.'s status as a congressionally established federal district gives Trump a window to assert more control over the district than other cities. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser didn't offer much resistance at first, allowing city workers to clear homeless encampments and work closely with federal immigration agents. But on Friday, the heavily Democratic district asked for an emergency court order blocking Trump officials from putting a federal official in charge of D.C. police. The Trump administration on Friday agreed to leave the Washington, D.C., police chief in control of the department. That came one day after Attorney General Pam Bondi said the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration would take over the police chief's duties, including authority over orders issued to officers. The two sides sparred in court for hours before U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes after the city sued to stop the order. The judge indicated the law likely doesn't grant the Trump administration power to fully take over city police, but it probably does give the president more power than the city might like. She pushed the two sides to compromise, promising to issue a court order temporarily blocking the administration from naming a new chief if they couldn't agree. But while Attorney General Pam Bondi agreed to leave the police chief in charge, she directed the District's police to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement regardless of any city law. The showdown in Washington is the latest attempt by Trump to test the boundaries of his legal authority to carry out his tough-on-crime agenda, relying on obscure statutes and a supposed state of emergency to speed up the mass deportation of people in the United States illegally. About 800 National Guard troops are being activated, with Humvees parked along the Washington Monument and near Union Station. Troops have been spotted standing outside baseball's Nationals Park and neighborhood restaurants. The White House says guard members aren't making arrests but are protecting law enforcement officers who are making arrests and helping deter violent crime. Trump says one of the objectives will be moving homeless people far from the city. Trump has the authority to do this for 30 days and says he might look into extending it. But that would require congressional approval. Whether Republicans in Congress would go along with that is unclear. Some D.C. residents have protested against the increased police presence. For some, the action echoes uncomfortable historical chapters when politicians used language to paint predominantly Black cities with racist narratives to shape public opinion and justify police action. Washington is very different from any other American city, and the rules that govern it give the federal government much more control than it would have anywhere else. Whether Trump is using this as a blueprint for how to approach cities — largely Democratic cities — that he wants to exert more control over remains to be seen.
