South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson has joined a coalition of nine attorneys general in challenging the Biden-Harris administration’s unlawful voter registration scheme that turns federal agencies into voter registration organizations and puts the integrity of the country’s elections at risk.
Executive Order 14019, written by left-wing advocacy groups and signed by President Biden in 2021, unlawfully directs federal agencies and departments to use money given to them by Congress to conduct voter registration activities. The federal government has limited authority to regulate voter registration as that is a power granted primarily to the states by Congress and the United States Constitution.
“I swore to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law, and this order from the Biden-Harris administration violates both,” Attorney General Wilson said. “Federal agencies cannot take money that Congress allocated and use it for improper purposes, and the Constitution primarily gives the states the authority to regulate voter registration.”
The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas, asks the court to declare the executive order unconstitutional and unlawful and enjoin all agencies from implementing the order.
For example, the U.S. Department of Justice is registering imprisoned felons to vote—but there was never notice-and-comment on that policy to allow the public to weigh in on whether that is right. In many states, it is illegal for felons to vote. The Department of the Treasury also said it would implement EO 14019 by including “information about registration and voter participation in its direct deposit campaigns for Americans who receive Social Security, Veterans Affairs, and other federal benefit payments.”
EO 14019 exceeds any authority executive entities have under federal law, violates the Constitution, threatens states’ attempt to regulate voter registration, and undermines the voter registration systems set up by the states that will impact federal, state, and local elections.
In addition to Attorney General Wilson, attorneys general from Iowa, South Dakota, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Oklahoma also joined the lawsuit led by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen and Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach.
Original source can be found here.