Advocacy group seeks to block Trump voter information request News
Advocacy group seeks to block Trump voter information request

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) [advocacy website] filed suit [complaint, PDF] Wednesday and has sought [text, PDF] temporary injunctive relief against the Trump administration’s request for voter information. EPIC alleges that the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity (PACEI) failed to preform a Privacy Impact Assessment prior to the commencement of its conduct. EPIC also claims that the request has the potential to violate the constitutional right to privacy. According to the group, the website state officials are directed to, to fulfill the request is unsecured [press release]. Further, the information demanded by PACEI could enable identity theft.

Trump established PACEI in May via executive order [text] . Last week, PACEI Vice Chair and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach sent out a letter [text, PDF] requesting voter information from all 50 states. The letter asks the states to provide the names, dates of birth, addresses, political affiliation, and last four social security digit of its registered voters. So far, 44 states have at least partially refused the demand.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Fyodor Dostoevsky sentenced to death

Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky was sentenced to death on November 16, 1849 over his involvement in the progressive Petrashevsky Circle of intellectuals. Dostoevsky and his codefendants were scheduled to be executed on December 22 of that year, but their execution was stayed by Tsar Nicholas I after the execution ritual had been carried out. Dostoevsky was sent to Siberia instead to serve a four-year sentence. Learn more about the mock execution of Dostoevsky.

Canada executed Metis leader for treason

On November 16, 1885, the Canadian government executed Metis leader Louis Riel for high treason in the wake of the "Northwest Rebellion" that had pitted the Metis (descendants of French traders and native tribes) in what is now Saskatchewan against Canadian troops. Although Riel has lately been rehabilitated as an Indigenous francophone patriot of the Canadian West, his trial and execution remain sore points between English and French Canada.

US President Nixon signs Trans-Alaska Pipeline Act

On November 16, 1973, US President Richard Nixon signed the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Act into law. In addition to creating an oil pipeline across the state, the Act also quashed all environmental-legal challenges regarding its construction.