Washington DC: Michigan Welfare Rights Org. v. Donald J. Trump

INTRODUCTION
1. Since decisively losing the November 2020 presidential election, Defendants
Donald J. Trump, and his campaign committee Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., have engaged
in a variety of tactics designed to overturn the result of that election. Having unsuccessfully filed
numerous unsuccessful lawsuits, Defendants have now turned to a new strategy: pressure state and
local officials not to certify election results in key states and then have state legislatures override
the will of the voters by installing President Trump’s slate of electors. They have actively pursued
this strategy, compromising the integrity of the election process, and unlawfully interfering with
will of the voters.
2. To effectuate this strategy, Defendants are openly seeking to disenfranchise Black
voters, including voters in Detroit, Michigan. Repeating false claims of voter fraud, which have
been thoroughly debunked, Defendants are pressuring state and local officials in Michigan not to
count votes from Wayne County, Michigan (where Detroit is the county seat), and thereby
disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters. Defendants’ tactics repeat the worst abuses in our
nation’s history, as Black Americans were denied a voice in American democracy for most of the
first two centuries of the Republic.
3. No more. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 flatly prohibits Defendants’ efforts to
disenfranchise Black people and assault our Republic. This is a moment that many of us hoped
never to face. But we are here, and the law is clear. It is time to enforce it.