Metro Nashville joins lawsuit claiming feds withheld millions
Metro Nashville filed suit Monday against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in federal court, claiming the Trump administration withheld tens of millions of dollars for anti-terrorism efforts unless states and local governments adopted certain election-system policies to check citizenship. Metro joined Harris County and El Paso County, both in Texas, and the city of […]
Metro Nashville filed suit Monday against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in federal court, claiming the Trump administration withheld tens of millions of dollars for anti-terrorism efforts unless states and local governments adopted certain election-system policies to check citizenship.
Metro joined Harris County and El Paso County, both in Texas, and the city of Columbus, Ohio in saying they lost 20% of their federal DHS allotment for not using a national citizenship verification system they consider “notoriously error-filled” to check the status of pollworkers and register voters. They claim in the filing that the conditions violate the U.S. Constitution and put public safety and election security in jeopardy.
In a release, the local governments, which are represented by Protect Democracy, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU, Public Rights Project and the Jacobsen Lawyers Group, said the Department of Homeland Security is “holding public safety funding hostage” to “coerce” states and local governments to adopt policies the administration has failed to impose in court.
The group of local governments notes that the Federal Emergency Management Agency put new eligibility requirements on states in order to receive money from the Homeland Security Grant Program set up by Congress 25 years ago to help local governments deal with terrorism acts. Under those conditions, states must use DHS’s “notoriously error-filled” Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system to “verify” citizenship for all pollworkers and registered voters, putting higher and “impractical” costs on electronic voting systems and charging a 5% manual paper-ballot audit, the local groups say.
The local governments’ complaint contends the new conditions are “arbitrary and illegal” and violate the Administrative Procedure Act and the Constitution’s separation of powers, which give federal spending authority to Congress, not the executive branch. It also points out the Constitution gives states and Congress authority to set federal election rules.
Courts have consistently rejected the administration’s efforts to meddle in elections. We are proud to join other cities and counties across the country to ensure that our access to federal funds designated for first responders is protected.
– Tyler Yarbro, Metro Nashville Law Director
The plaintiffs also said the Trump administration’s demand came as it “engages in a coordinated campaign to undermine the mid-term elections.”
“This lawsuit seeks to secure necessary funding that would provide equipment and training to Nashville’s first responders in handling emergency or terrorist events in our city,” said Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County’s Director of Law Tyler Yarbro. “The Trump administration wants to withhold those funds unless we implement wholly unnecessary and costly changes to our election procedures. Courts have consistently rejected the administration’s efforts to meddle in elections. We are proud to join other cities and counties across the country to ensure that our access to federal funds designated for first responders is protected.”