Voting Rights

Birmingham, AL – The State of Alabama sued the federal government in May seeking to define undocumented immigrants as non-persons under the U.S. Constitution. Specifically, the state seeks to exclude these immigrants from the required Census count of all persons in the United States every 10 years.

LOS ANGELES – MALDEF filed a lawsuit against the City of Placentia today for breaching a 2016 settlement agreement to secure Latino voting rights as required by the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA).

LOS ANGELES – A federal appeals court panel ruled today that civil rights advocates can intervene in a lawsuit that seeks to overturn the City of Poway’s election system and challenges the constitutionality of the California Voting Rights Act of 2001 (CVRA).

LOS ANGELES – The City of Placentia, California is failing to comply with an agreement to draw a new council district map that ensures Latinos’ voting rights and risks legal action for breaching the settlement if it does not take immediate action, demand letters sent to the city warn.

A federal lawsuit, La Unión del Pueblo Entero v. Ross, challenges the Trump administration for ordering that a citizenship question be added to the 2020 Census. The goal is to severely undercount Latinos, Asian Americans, immigrants, and other populations to dilute their political representation.

LOS ANGELES – It is with deep sadness that MALDEF announces the passing of former president and general counsel Joaquin G. Avila, whose long career at the civil right organization and in the community was highlighted by his landmark work in voting rights advocacy and litigation.

Washington, D.C. – A motion filed by a coalition of civil rights groups to voluntarily dismiss their claims against the discredited and now-disbanded “Election Integrity Commission” has been approved by a federal court judge.

LOS ANGELES – A federal court judge dismissed a lawsuit today that sought to overturn the City of Poway’s election system and challenged the constitutionality of the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA).