Texas
State can no longer investigate alleged cases of vote harvesting, federal judge says
A federal judge ruled on Saturday that part of a Texas law that enacted new voting restrictions violated the U.S. Constitution by being too vague and restricting free speech.
The ruling, made by U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez, immediately halted the state’s ability to investigate alleged cases of vote harvesting, such as the investigation into the League of United Latin American Citizens by Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Before today’s ruling, a person who knowingly provided or offered vote harvesting services in exchange for compensation was committing a third-degree felony. This meant that organizers of voter outreach organizations and even volunteers could spend up to ten years in prison and fined up to $10,000 for giving or offering these services.
Paxton on Monday vowed to appeal the ruling.
“A ruling—weeks prior to an election— preventing my office from investigating potential election violations is deeply troubling and risks undermining public trust in our political process,” he said.
According to Republican lawmakers, the provision was put in place to prevent voter fraud and secure election integrity. However, in the ruling, the judge noted that there was widespread confusion about how to implement the canvassing restriction from local election administrators. This confusion also left voter outreach organizations uncertain about whether they could provide volunteers with food or bus fare because it could look like compensation.
Many organizations – including La Union del Pueblo Entero, LULAC, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund – have filed lawsuits against many other provisions of the law, including voter assistance and mail-in ballot restrictions. The challenges to these provisions have not been ruled on yet. The original complaints were filed in August and September 2021.
Before the law, organizations like OCA-Greater Houston, an advocacy organization for people of Asian and Pacific Island descent, would host in-person election events and allow attendees to bring their mail-in ballots in order to receive help like language assistance.
Nina Perales, vice president of litigation at MALDEF, wrote that “Today’s ruling means that voter outreach organizers and other advocates in Texas can speak to mail ballot voters about issues on the ballot and urge voters to support improvements to their communities.”
Vermont
Sheriff retried on assault charge for kicking shackled detainee twice in the groin
NORTH HERO, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont sheriff went on trial Monday for a second time on a charge of simple assault for kicking a shackled detainee twice in the groin in 2022 when he was a captain after a judge declared a mistrial in July.
A jury was selected on Monday and the trial began in the afternoon in the case of Franklin County Sheriff John Grismore.
This summer, a jury deadlocked, telling the judge it could not reach a unanimous decision after four hours of deliberations.
After the mistrial, Grismore said he was disappointed that the jury did not acquit him. He said by email on Friday that he did not have a comment on his second trial.
Grismore was elected sheriff in November 2022, a few months after he was fired from his position as a captain in the sheriff’s department after video surfaced of him kicking the shackled detainee. He pleaded not guilty to a simple assault charge.
According to the video, a man who’s handcuffed and shackled refused to stay seated on a bench while being detained at the sheriff’s office. Grismore, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, kicked the man in the groin and then kicked him a second time when the man stood up again.
Grismore was the only candidate on the ballot for sheriff after winning both the Republican and Democratic nominations in the Aug. 9, 2022, primary.
In December 2023, the Vermont Criminal Justice Council found that he violated the state’s use of force policy and voted 15-1 that he permanently lose his law enforcement certification, which means he is unable to enforce the law in Vermont.
Four months later, a special legislative committee recommended against impeachment of Grismore but said the sheriff is doing a disservice by remaining in office and should step down.
In response, Grismore said he was disappointed in the amount of time and money that he said had been wasted on this process. He said he wouldn’t resign and was pleased that Franklin County voters and residents who have supported him have been vindicated.
Alaska
Judge sets aside critical habitat designation for threatened seals
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A judge in Alaska has set aside a federal agency’s action designating an area the size of Texas as critical habitat for two species of threatened Arctic Alaska seals.
U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason last week found the National Marine Fisheries Service did not explain why the entire 174-million-acre (70-million-hectare) area was “indispensable” to the recovery of the ringed and bearded seal populations. Gleason said the agency “abused its discretion” by not considering any protected areas to exclude or how other nations are conserving both seal populations, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
She vacated the critical habitat designation, which included waters extending from St. Matthew Island in the Bering Sea to the edge of Canadian waters in the Arctic, and sent the matter back to the agency for further work.
The decision came in a lawsuit brought by the state of Alaska, which claimed the 2022 designation was overly broad and could hamper oil and gas development in the Arctic and shipping to North Slope communities.
Julie Fair, a spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said the agency was reviewing the decision.
Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor said the protected areas had no sound basis in science.
“The federal government uses the same tactics again and again to prevent the people of Alaska from using their own land and resources,” he said in a statement. “They identify an area or activity they wish to restrict, and they declare it unusable under the guise of conservation or preservation.”
Bearded and ringed seals give birth and rear their pups on the ice. They were listed as threatened in 2012 amid concerns with anticipated sea ice declines in the coming decades. The state, North Slope Borough and oil industry groups challenged the threatened species designation, but the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately declined to hear that case.
Gleason said the Endangered Species Act bars from being authorized actions that would likely jeopardize a threatened species. Given that, “an interim change” vacating the critical habitat designation would not be so disruptive, she said.
State can no longer investigate alleged cases of vote harvesting, federal judge says
A federal judge ruled on Saturday that part of a Texas law that enacted new voting restrictions violated the U.S. Constitution by being too vague and restricting free speech.
The ruling, made by U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez, immediately halted the state’s ability to investigate alleged cases of vote harvesting, such as the investigation into the League of United Latin American Citizens by Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Before today’s ruling, a person who knowingly provided or offered vote harvesting services in exchange for compensation was committing a third-degree felony. This meant that organizers of voter outreach organizations and even volunteers could spend up to ten years in prison and fined up to $10,000 for giving or offering these services.
Paxton on Monday vowed to appeal the ruling.
“A ruling—weeks prior to an election— preventing my office from investigating potential election violations is deeply troubling and risks undermining public trust in our political process,” he said.
According to Republican lawmakers, the provision was put in place to prevent voter fraud and secure election integrity. However, in the ruling, the judge noted that there was widespread confusion about how to implement the canvassing restriction from local election administrators. This confusion also left voter outreach organizations uncertain about whether they could provide volunteers with food or bus fare because it could look like compensation.
Many organizations – including La Union del Pueblo Entero, LULAC, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund – have filed lawsuits against many other provisions of the law, including voter assistance and mail-in ballot restrictions. The challenges to these provisions have not been ruled on yet. The original complaints were filed in August and September 2021.
Before the law, organizations like OCA-Greater Houston, an advocacy organization for people of Asian and Pacific Island descent, would host in-person election events and allow attendees to bring their mail-in ballots in order to receive help like language assistance.
Nina Perales, vice president of litigation at MALDEF, wrote that “Today’s ruling means that voter outreach organizers and other advocates in Texas can speak to mail ballot voters about issues on the ballot and urge voters to support improvements to their communities.”
Vermont
Sheriff retried on assault charge for kicking shackled detainee twice in the groin
NORTH HERO, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont sheriff went on trial Monday for a second time on a charge of simple assault for kicking a shackled detainee twice in the groin in 2022 when he was a captain after a judge declared a mistrial in July.
A jury was selected on Monday and the trial began in the afternoon in the case of Franklin County Sheriff John Grismore.
This summer, a jury deadlocked, telling the judge it could not reach a unanimous decision after four hours of deliberations.
After the mistrial, Grismore said he was disappointed that the jury did not acquit him. He said by email on Friday that he did not have a comment on his second trial.
Grismore was elected sheriff in November 2022, a few months after he was fired from his position as a captain in the sheriff’s department after video surfaced of him kicking the shackled detainee. He pleaded not guilty to a simple assault charge.
According to the video, a man who’s handcuffed and shackled refused to stay seated on a bench while being detained at the sheriff’s office. Grismore, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, kicked the man in the groin and then kicked him a second time when the man stood up again.
Grismore was the only candidate on the ballot for sheriff after winning both the Republican and Democratic nominations in the Aug. 9, 2022, primary.
In December 2023, the Vermont Criminal Justice Council found that he violated the state’s use of force policy and voted 15-1 that he permanently lose his law enforcement certification, which means he is unable to enforce the law in Vermont.
Four months later, a special legislative committee recommended against impeachment of Grismore but said the sheriff is doing a disservice by remaining in office and should step down.
In response, Grismore said he was disappointed in the amount of time and money that he said had been wasted on this process. He said he wouldn’t resign and was pleased that Franklin County voters and residents who have supported him have been vindicated.
Alaska
Judge sets aside critical habitat designation for threatened seals
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A judge in Alaska has set aside a federal agency’s action designating an area the size of Texas as critical habitat for two species of threatened Arctic Alaska seals.
U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason last week found the National Marine Fisheries Service did not explain why the entire 174-million-acre (70-million-hectare) area was “indispensable” to the recovery of the ringed and bearded seal populations. Gleason said the agency “abused its discretion” by not considering any protected areas to exclude or how other nations are conserving both seal populations, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
She vacated the critical habitat designation, which included waters extending from St. Matthew Island in the Bering Sea to the edge of Canadian waters in the Arctic, and sent the matter back to the agency for further work.
The decision came in a lawsuit brought by the state of Alaska, which claimed the 2022 designation was overly broad and could hamper oil and gas development in the Arctic and shipping to North Slope communities.
Julie Fair, a spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said the agency was reviewing the decision.
Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor said the protected areas had no sound basis in science.
“The federal government uses the same tactics again and again to prevent the people of Alaska from using their own land and resources,” he said in a statement. “They identify an area or activity they wish to restrict, and they declare it unusable under the guise of conservation or preservation.”
Bearded and ringed seals give birth and rear their pups on the ice. They were listed as threatened in 2012 amid concerns with anticipated sea ice declines in the coming decades. The state, North Slope Borough and oil industry groups challenged the threatened species designation, but the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately declined to hear that case.
Gleason said the Endangered Species Act bars from being authorized actions that would likely jeopardize a threatened species. Given that, “an interim change” vacating the critical habitat designation would not be so disruptive, she said.
