Democrat Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) boasted about his party’s success in blocking initiatives aimed at ensuring that only American citizens are allowed to vote in federal elections.
Speaking about President Donald Trump’s March 25 executive order, titled “PRESERVING AND PROTECTING THE INTEGRITY OF AMERICAN ELECTIONS,” Jeffries commented, “So-and-so signed the so-called executive order. It was a voter suppression Executive Order, trying to do all of the things that the so-called SAVE Act is trying to do, but trying to do it through executive action.”
The executive order affirms, “Under the Constitution, State governments must safeguard American elections in compliance with Federal laws that protect Americans’ voting rights and guard against dilution by illegal voting, discrimination, fraud, and other forms of malfeasance and error,” and further argues that America has “not adequately enforced Federal election requirements that, for example, prohibit States from counting ballots received after Election Day or prohibit non-citizens from registering to vote.”
The directive also outlines that within 30 days, the Election Assistance Commission must adjust its national mail voter registration form to require proof of U.S. citizenship and additional documentation details, while taking care to maintain information security standards.
Despite these efforts, Jeffries made clear that he is opposed to such measures. “He does not have the power to do that. And so all the Democrats, the House Democrats, partnered with the Senate Democrats partnered with the Democratic National Committee, partnered with the Democratic Governors Association, and I even joined the lawsuit. Is it up on screen? I even joined the lawsuit as an individual on your behalf,” Jeffries said, proudly.
He went on to say, “And I like this name Jeffries versus Trump, and so we sued him in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and we believe we will win.”
This week, a federal judge temporarily halted part of Trump’s executive order.
In a 120-page ruling, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote, according to NPR, “Our Constitution entrusts Congress and the States — not the President — with the authority to regulate federal elections,” while noting that Congress is presently deliberating the SAVE Act, legislation that would require proof of citizenship for voter registration.
Judge Kollar-Kotelly, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, further emphasized, “[N]o statutory delegation of authority to the Executive Branch permits the President to short-circuit Congress’s deliberative process by executive order.”
The court ruling has stirred concern among conservatives, who see it as another example of judges using their positions to obstruct President Trump’s Make America Great Again agenda, which voters supported last November.
Jeffries’ stance, however, comes as little shock, given his previous skepticism regarding any broad public support for the MAGA movement.
“Despite the claims of some of my Republican colleagues who have spent a lot of time over the last two weeks talking about some big, massive mandate, I’m looking for it,” Jeffries said in November following former Vice President Kamala Harris’s significant election loss.
He added, “That doesn’t mean that we don’t have to make adjustments to make sure that we can get beyond fighting House Republicans with a national wave on top of us to withdraw,” before dismissing the idea of a sweeping conservative mandate: “But the question about this notion of some mandate to make massive far-right extreme policy changes — it doesn’t exist.”
“It doesn’t exist,” Jeffries stressed once again.
{Matzav.com}