Pennsylvania attorney general sues Republicans to stop election subpoena
Source: Reuters
(Reuters) - Pennsylvania's Democratic attorney general filed a lawsuit against Republican state lawmakers on Thursday in an attempt to stop their subpoena for detailed personal information on voters as part of their partisan review of the 2020 election.
The move comes after Republicans on a state Senate committee overseeing the review issued a subpoena last week to Veronica Degraffenreid, acting head of Pennsylvania's Department of State, seeking information on millions of voters, including drivers license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.
The lawsuit, filed by Attorney General Josh Shapiro in state court, argues that the subpoena targets constitutionally protected information without justification, given the lack of evidence of widespread electoral fraud in the state.
"Giving this data away would compromise the privacy of every Pennsylvania voter that violates Pennsylvanians constitutional rights," Shapiro said in a statement.
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/pennsylvania-attorney-general-sues-republicans-to-stop-election-subpoena/ar-AAOKZHQ?li=BBnb7Kz
BumRushDaShow
(127,323 posts)Link to tweet
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@PAAttorneyGen
PA bore the brunt of Trumps crusade to attack the integrity of our election results in 2020.
Now PA Republicans want to subpoena private voter data and discourage people from voting by pushing the Big Lie.
Not on my watch. Im pushing back in court.
AG Shapiro Sues Senate Republicans On Behalf of Commonwealth, DOS Over Plan To Subpoena Voters...
HARRISBURGAttorney General Josh Shapiro today announced that the Office of Attorney General has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of State, and Acting...
attorneygeneral.gov
7:38 PM · Sep 23, 2021
Link to tweet
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AG Josh Shapiro
@PAAttorneyGen
·
Sep 23, 2021
Republicans in Harrisburg are trying to pry into the personal data of nine million Pennsylvanians all in service of the Big Lie.
Enough is enough. This isnt an audit its a sham.
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AG Josh Shapiro
@PAAttorneyGen
PA Republicans have already paid to get vast amounts of data on Pennsylvania voters. They know what elections youve voted in, how youve voted, where and when.
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6:29 PM · Sep 23, 2021
PRESS RELEASE
https://www.attorneygeneral.gov/taking-action/press-releases/ag-shapiro-sues-senate-republicans-on-behalf-of-commonwealth-dos-over-plan-to-subpoena-voters-private-data/
September 23, 2021 | Topic: Rights Share
Lawsuit Fights To Protect Privacy of Nine Million Impacted Pennsylvanians
HARRISBURGAttorney General Josh Shapiro today announced that the Office of Attorney General has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of State, and Acting Secretary Veronica Degraffenreid, against Pennsylvania state senators Chris Dush and Jake Corman as well as the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee for their efforts to subpoena the personal identification information of nine million Pennsylvanians.
Giving this data away would compromise the privacy of every Pennsylvania voter that violates Pennsylvanians constitutional rights. By trying to pry into everyones drivers license numbers and social security numbers they have gone too far, said AG Shapiro. Today we say enough is enough. What they are doing is against the law and we intend to win.
The lawsuit, which was filed today in Commonwealth Court, argues that the Committees subpoena demands Pennsylvanians constitutionally protected information without providing a reasonable justification for needing the information. Currently, the Pennsylvania Constitution guarantees Pennsylvanians the right to informational privacy, including the right to control access to and the dissemination of their personal information.
The lawsuit argues that a legislative subpoena like the one being issued by the Committee invades that right to privacy because the Committees concerns about the integrity of the 2020 and 2021 elections are based on false, partisan narratives that have been repeatedly disproven.
The lawsuit also argues that the risk of providing the Committee or third party company with millions of Pennsylvanians personal information is too great to ignore Pennsylvanians privacy rights. The lawsuit notes that the Committee has not implemented the necessary security protocols to ensure that Pennsylvanians personal information cannot be misused by any third party company.
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bucolic_frolic
(42,679 posts)He really takes it to them.
gab13by13
(20,870 posts)are designed to get voter information to aid states in gerrymandering districts and in suppressing the Democratic vote in areas that voted heavily Democratic.
FakeNoose
(32,356 posts)The Jungle 1
(4,552 posts)Storm damage from Ida took out two bridges in my 3 mile area. They are closed. I sent an Email to my rep demanding the bridges get fixed and he stop wasting my money on this useless and wasteful lie.
This really burns my ass when we have so many other things that need attention.