Posted on 09/14/2012 9:36:40 PM PDT by hawkeye101
A district court judge says Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz cannot move forward with new rules that would challenge voters appearing on databases as noncitizens.
Judge Mary Pat Gunderson issued a ruling Friday blocking Schultz from implementing voting rules he established without holding a public hearing.
Schultz created the new rules in July, using an administrative emergency rulemaking process. He says he needed to act quickly before the November election because noncitizens might be registered to vote.
Both Sides of Lawsuit React
Here is the news release issued by Secretary of State Matt Schultz:
Secretary of State Matt Schultz issued the following statement on District Court Judge Mary Pat Gunderson's ruling Friday granting a motion for temporary injunction in the American Civil Liberties Union, and League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa, v. Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz:
"Today's decision is only a temporary injunction, but unfortunately this ruling could open the door for non-citizens to continue voting in Iowa elections. I am committed to fair and honest elections. I worked to prevent non-citizens from voting using a fair and reasonable process and that is still my intent."Although I am very disappointed in this ruling, this is just one of many steps in the litigation process and I am resolved to continuing to fight for the people of Iowa and protecting the integrity of our elections." Schultz explained that the new rule resulted from discussions between his office and the federal government concerning the state's request to access the federal government's immigration and citizenship SAVE database (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements). Schultz sought access to the database after learning that 3,582 non-citizens may have registered to vote in Iowa, and that 1208 of those individuals voted in the 2010 election. The list was generated from DOT records of non-citizens who had obtained a driver's license in the State of Iowa, and provided their driver's license number when registering to vote. "Access to the SAVE database will allow our office to verify whether those individuals are non-citizens or if they have become citizens since applying for their driver's license. You must be a citizen of the United States in order to vote in our elections, and I have a duty as the Secretary of State and chief commissioner of elections to safeguard the integrity of elections in Iowa," stated Schultz. ARC 0272C was implemented to establish a process to communicate with those individuals who remain positively identified as non-citizens after comparison with the federal government's immigration and citizenship database."
Here is the news release issued by the ACLU:
We were just notified late this afternoon about Judge Gunderson's ruling granting our request for a temporary injunction to halt the Iowa Secretary of State's irresponsible and destructive voter suppression rules.
Statement from ACLU of Iowa Legislative Director Rita Bettis
"We believe that every qualified, eligible Iowan should be free to exercise their most profound right of citizenship, the right to vote. This decision ensures that those rights will be protected while our case is proceeding, and that no Iowan, regardless of their Latino heritage, regardless of their status as new U.S. Citizens, will have to wonder what it will cost them to vote this coming election." "No one should fear that unsworn, unreliable allegations that they are not qualified to vote will result in the 'investigation and prosecution' contemplated by these irresponsible rules." "Pending the final resolution of this lawsuit, there should be no purge, there should be no consideration of unfounded complaints of fraud, and the Secretary should immediately recall the baseless DCI investigation of thousands of Iowans that is founded solely on outdated, unreliable Department of Transportation data."
Statement from the ACLU's plaintiff in the case, the League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa, from state president Joe Enriquez Henry:
"The Latino community is grateful for Judge Gunderson's decision. Her fairness today helps remove the fear that has existed. We are also grateful to the ACLU of Iowa for defending the Constitutional rights of every Iowan citizen to vote."
"We hope the ruling eliminates any fears Latino Iowa citizens had in exercising their right to vote, and that theLatino community will come out in full force to vote on Election Day." Legal counsel for the case is Des Moines attorneys Dan Johnston and Joseph Glazebrook of Glazebrook and Moe, LLP, as well as Nancy Abudu and Laughlin McDonald of the national ACLU Voting Rights Project."
The tyrants in our “courts” are tap dancing their asses off trying to help Eric the Holder save their “messiah’s” ass.
That pretty much says it all. doesn't it?
Appeal
Anything more on this judge? She is running for reelection, along with other judges, and I tried but couldn’t find much about her or the other judges except Wiggins. Even the library there told me they had nothing. Hope she gets voted out.
Going on TV and stating that arrest warrants have been issued for the 1,208 aliens that reportedly voted in 2010, would do a lot towards handling that. The arrests may eventually be thrown out, but not until after the election, and the mass arrests would have their effect.
They sure do. Too many judges twist and bend and even break our laws to assist them.
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