Holtzman Vogel Files Twin Amicus Briefs in Sixth Circuit Voter Records Case
Holtzman Vogel filed two amicus briefs in the Sixth Circuit supporting the DOJ’s request for a full-court rehearing in United States v. Benson. The case asks a simple question: can the U.S. Attorney General examine Michigan's unredacted voter registration roll? A federal law from 1960 says states must keep their voting records and hand them over when the Attorney General asks. A three-judge panel said no anyway, for two reasons — and each of the firm's briefs takes on one of them.
The panel first said the old records law can't apply to the voter roll because newer laws require states to constantly update their rolls, so keeping records and updating them supposedly conflict. The firm's brief for the American Constitutional Rights Union, filed by Abhishek Kambli, argues there's no conflict at all: states can update the current roll while still preserving the underlying records, just as the law requires.
The panel also said the Attorney General's written request didn't explain itself well enough. The firm's brief for the Honest Elections Project, filed by Jason Torchinsky, walks through why Congress wrote the law in 1960 — states were stonewalling federal investigators — and shows that courts at the time held the Attorney General's request only needs to state a general reason. It isn't the courts' job to grade it.
Both briefs urge the full Sixth Circuit to rehear the case and restore a tool the federal government has used to oversee elections for more than sixty years.
