Litigation Advocacy
2025
LWVUS/LWVVA/LWVLA Litigation Advocacy: Class Action Lawsuit Challenges Trump-Vance Administration’s Unlawful “National Data Banks” That Consolidate Sensitive Personal Information Across Federal Agencies
The League of Women Voters, League of Women Voters of Virginia, League of Women Voters of Louisiana, and Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), along with five individual plaintiffs, filed a class action lawsuit today challenging the Trump-Vance administration’s unlawful creation of massive government databases consolidating sensitive and legally protected personal information on millions of people in America to unlawfully open investigations and purge voter rolls.
LWVLA Statement: “The consolidation and unlawful use of Louisianans’ sensitive data without our knowledge is alarming and terrifying,” said M. Christian Green, president of the League of Women Voters of Louisiana. “The League is proud to join this fight and stand up for Louisianans’ right to privacy and right to vote.”
Read the filing.
Read the LWVUS press release.
Access the LWVUS Legal Center case briefing page.
LWVUS Litigation Advocacy: LWV Files Amicus Brief in Louisiana v. Callais (September 3, 2025)
On September 3, 2025, the League of Women Voters and partner organizations filed an amicus brief in the US Supreme Court case Louisiana v. Callais in support of fair representation for Black voters in Louisiana. After assigning the case to be argued in its spring term, the Court ordered the parties to consider a new question: whether creating a majority-Black district under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) violated the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution. The League previously filed an amicus brief in this case last term, arguing that states should be encouraged to draw districts that comply with Section 2 of the VRA as Louisiana did in this case.
LWVLA Statement: “The League of Voters of Louisiana has been working with partners to pursue fair congressional maps in our state for the last four years. For the first time in decades, communities with shared interests were able to elect a candidate of their choice in 2024 and to enjoy real representation in Congress. Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, like racial discrimination and disempowerment in Louisiana, is not an antiquated relic of the past — it has real effects that persist today on which voters deserve to have a voice. Section 2 is intended to secure effective representation to address real community needs — transportation, education, recreation, economic development — that are ongoing and have persisted to the present day. Effective representation in Congress that is responsive to community needs, interests, and aspirations can secure federal resources to address these problems for everyone’s benefit. Redistricting must be about fairness, justice, and effective representation of all communities!”
Read the LWVUS amicus brief.
Read the LWVUS press release.
Access the LWVUS Legal Center case briefing page.
LWVLA Litigation Advocacy: Voting Rights Coalition Sues to Defend Freedom to Vote for Louisianans (May 14, 2025)
A coalition of voting rights groups is suing the state of Louisiana for a blatant violation of Louisianans’ freedom to vote. The state passed a proof of citizenship law that is unconstitutionally vague and violates the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). In 2019, the Louisiana Legislature passed Act 636, which provided that certain individuals with felony convictions on probation or parole are allowed to register to vote. Act 636 opened the door to voting rights restoration for more than 30,000 Louisianans on either probation or parole and has allowed for the restoration of tens of thousands more since. In 2021, the Louisiana legislature passed Act 127 to remove the paperwork requirement for rights restoration, making it clear that individuals with felony convictions can register to vote regardless of whether they present proof of eligibility to the registrar. However, the State continues to require documentary proof of eligibility from prospective voter registrants who were registered prior to their felony convictions and thus had their registrations “suspended” because of their conviction. The paperwork requirement for “suspended” voters continues the long history of erecting additional barriers to voting for individuals with felony convictions. The law disproportionately harms voters of color, women, new voters, voters with past felony convictions, and other historically disenfranchised communities.
LWVLA Statement: “SB 436, which places unnecessary barriers to Louisianans’ ability to register to vote, is not only confusing, but is also illegal. Furthermore, the law unlawfully restricts the League of Women Voters of Louisiana’s ability to do our core nonpartisan work of registering and educating voters. At the end of the day, educating voters is our mission — policing citizenship is not. This law takes Louisiana in the wrong direction, and we look forward to challenging it in court.”
Read the motion for preliminary injunction.
Read the LWVUS press release.
Access the Campaign Legal Center case briefing page.
LWVUS Litigation Advocacy: Voting Rights Groups Challenge Trumps Recent Anti-Voter Executive Order (March 27, 2025)
A coalition of voting rights organizations filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia to challenge President Trump’s unlawful executive order on voting. The order attempts to seize the power to set voter registration rules from Congress and the states, and doing so in a way that would violate federal law and the Constitution if carried out by the Election Assistance Commission (EAC). Key provisions of Trumps order could disenfranchise millions of eligible voters, particularly voters of color, women voters, naturalized citizens, voters with disabilities, voters with low incomes, and first-time voters.
The groups are challenging the orders usurpation of powers, including its directive for the US Election Assistance Commission to change the federal voter registration form to require burdensome submission of documents to prove citizenship, which many Americans do not have or cannot readily acquire. Under existing law, registrants already have to swear to their citizenship under penalty of perjury, and there is no evidence that non-citizens are registering to vote at significant rates.
Read the letter to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. (March 27, 2025)
Read the complaint. (April 1, 2025)
2024
League of Women Voters Joins Amicus Brief Urging Importance of Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor (EMTALA) Act (March 29, 2024)
The League of Women Voters of the United States (LWVUS) joined an amicus brief filed in the consolidated Idaho v. United States and Moyle v. United States cases before the US Supreme Court. The cases concern whether states can block pregnant patients from getting emergency abortion care in hospitals, which, if adopted, would have devastating implications for pregnant patients facing medical emergencies.
Read the LWVUS press release.
Read the amicus brief.
2023
LWVLA Litigation Advocacy: Felony Voter Rights Restoration Suit (May 1, 2023)
This case challenges Louisiana’s requirement that some voters with felony convictions provide documentary proof of eligibility to register to vote, while other voters, even some who also have felony convictions, are not required to do so. Plaintiffs’ claims arise under the National Voter Registration Act (“NVRA”) and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Read plaintiffs’ proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. (November 20, 2023)
Read the motion for preliminary injunction. (May 22, 2023)
Access the LWVUS Legal Center briefing page.
Read the complaint. (May 1, 2023)
Access the Campaign Legal Center case briefing page.