WASHINGTON – The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs jointly filed an amicus brief supporting the District of Columbia’s motion to dismiss a complaint challenging the expansion of voting rights in municipal elections to District residents who are noncitizens.
“The law is clear. Expanding the right to vote for D.C.’s noncitizens, who have a significant stake in the functioning of D.C.’s government, is constitutional,” said Ezra Rosenberg, co-director of the Voting Rights Project with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “The claim that the plaintiffs in this case are victims of discrimination is legally unfounded when the very law they oppose simply grants the right to vote to a predominantly-marginalized population who have themselves historically faced discrimination. We urge the court to grant the defendant’s motion to dismiss.”
“The District’s decision to expand voting rights to all D.C. residents – who pay taxes, go to school, and work here – is a well-reasoned step forward. Now more residents can exercise their fundamental right to shape public policies that affect every aspect of their lives,” said Kaitlin Banner, Deputy Legal Director of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.
The amicus brief submitted to the United States District Court argues that the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022, which allows noncitizens to vote, is constitutional. The brief highlights that, in accord with precedent, noncitizens who call D.C. home are sufficiently invested in the city as seen in their payment of taxes, attendance at public schools, and their interest in various local issues ranging from gun control to fair housing, substantiating the District’s decision to grant them the right to vote.
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the Washington Lawyers’ Committee and Urban Affairs remain committed to their mission of eradicating discrimination and advancing civil rights through litigation and public policy advocacy. By filing this amicus brief, they aim to ensure that the settled law is applied to a legitimate expansion of the right to vote.
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About the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law – The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to mobilize the nation’s leading lawyers as agents for change in the Civil Rights Movement. Today, the Lawyers’ Committee uses legal advocacy to achieve racial justice, fighting inside and outside the courts to ensure that Black people and other people of color have the voice, opportunity, and power to make the promises of our democracy real. For more information, please visit https://lawyerscommittee.org.
About the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs: Founded in 1968, The Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs works to create legal, economic and social equity through litigation, client and public education and public policy advocacy. While we fight discrimination against all people, we recognize the central role that current and historic race discrimination plays in sustaining inequity and recognize the critical importance of identifying, exposing, combatting and dismantling the systems that sustain racial oppression. For more information, please visit www.washlaw.org or call 202.319.1000. Follow us on Twitter at @WashLaw4CR.