Abuse of Power

Washington, D.C. — August 22, 2020. Today the House of Representatives passed the Delivering for America Act, H.R. 8015 to halt changes to U.S. Postal Service operations and provide $25 billion in emergency funding during the COVID-19 pandemic. Common Cause’s President, Karen Hobert Flynn released the following statement: “We applaud the House of Representatives for standing up for the millions of Americans who rely on the U.S. Postal Service every day and passing the Delivering for America Act, H.R. 8015 to reverse changes to operations and provide $25 billion in funding during the pandemic. With tens of millions of Americans expected to vote by mail this year, it is appalling that the Trump administration would try to suppress our vote by hampering the USPS. Many communities and groups greatly depend on the USPS: seniors and people with disabilities for their social security benefits and prescription medications; rural and Native communities who lack other affordable delivery options; Americans who lack Internet connectivity; workers for their paychecks; veterans for medicines and VA benefits; and small businesses to ship their products to customers.”

As the COVID-19 death toll has continued to mount, Americans have waited for a sign that President Trump understands what we are enduring. Many have lost loved ones, jobs, health insurance and retirement savings, but those who are suffering have barely drawn a mention in the Rose Garden or as the president leaves the White House in a helicopter to play golf. Since the founding of the Republic, when tragedy has struck our nation, presidents have mourned with us, and they have vowed revenge on those days that will live in infamy. Never before has a president bemoaned the impact a national tragedy has had on his approval ratings or poll numbers.

“This lawsuit is part of a strategy to make it harder for eligible voters to vote in November – by introducing confusion, eliminating choices about how to return a mail ballot, and raising meritless questions about the integrity of our elections,” Suzanne Almeida, of voting rights group Common Cause Pennsylvania, told The Independent. “Drop boxes are a crucial option for voters who receive their absentee ballots too late to return them by mail. Without drop boxes, some people will be forced to choose between their health and their right to vote — and no one should have to make that choice,” she added. “Regardless of what happens in the litigation, voters should make a plan to vote, either by mail or in-person, to ensure their voices are heard on election day,” said Ms Almeida, of Common Cause. “Our government ‘of the people’ is stronger and more representative when every voter can participate.”

Tonight, Common Cause filed motions for expedited review and summary judgment in its challenge to President Trump’s memorandum requiring the exclusion of undocumented people from being counted in the congressional apportionment base following the 2020 census.  Should the court find summary judgment unavailable, Common Cause moved in the alternative for an expedited trial on the merits. The motions filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Common Cause v. Trump urge the court to expedite proceedings so that a final judgment and appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court can be completed before January  2021, when the President is scheduled to send apportionment numbers to Congress. 

“The drastic and disruptive changes to the Postal Service by the Trump administration have been an attack on every American’s right to vote and their First Amendment right to free speech – and they must be rolled back definitively with more than just a press release,” said Karen Hobert Flynn, President of Common Cause.

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and its pro bono counsel, Arnold & Porter LLP, filed suit this evening in federal court for the District of Maryland on behalf of the National Urban League, Common Cause and the League of Women Voters U.S. against Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and the United States Postal Service, challenging actions intended to disrupt the 2020 election by making it more difficult for mail ballots to be delivered on time.