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Biden’s home state election law trouble: Lawsuit alleges early voting rules violate Delaware Constitution

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Biden’s home state election law trouble: Lawsuit alleges early voting rules violate Delaware Constitution

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Michael Mennella of Newark, Delaware, has been an inspector of elections for the final 5 years, taking an oath himself and administering the oath to different election staff to obey voting legal guidelines. A violation of that oath might imply a superb and even jail time. 

Mennella has filed a lawsuit in opposition to the Delaware Division of Elections contending a regulation that takes impact this yr increasing early voting for each in-person and absentee ballots conflicts with the Delaware Structure’s narrower strategy and forces election workers to both observe the statute or observe the structure. 

“The penalties are prison, so there in all probability would should be a responsible intent, however it places [election] staff in a troublesome place of creating a authorized ruling that the courts are higher capable of resolve,” Mennella advised Fox Information Digital. “And now that the employees know concerning the battle, they much more need the court docket to resolve the difficulty.” 

TEXAS JUDGE HALTS PART OF NEW ELECTION LAW AHEAD OF EARLY VOTING

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Mennella famous a number of different election staff are involved, “however a few of them are anxious about retaliation or lack of their jobs.” The state legal guidelines on early voting will not be suitable with the Delaware Structure that specifies an election can solely be held at some point and lays out particular requirements to permit absentee voting.

President Biden speaks on the Atlanta College Heart Consortium, Jan. 11, 2022, in Atlanta.
(AP Photograph/Patrick Semansky)

Delaware, the state President Biden represented within the Senate for greater than three many years, could have early voting for the primary time due to a 2019 regulation granting 10 days of early in-person voting. Delaware can also be now permitting residents to be “everlasting absentee voters.”

After Biden referred to as a 2021 Georgia election reform regulation “Jim Crow within the twenty first century,” a few of the president’s critics famous that Georgia allowed 17 days of early in-person voting, whereas his house state allowed zero. Even The Washington Publish’s fact-check column gave Biden “4 Pinocchios” for his rhetoric concerning the Georgia regulation. It famous Georgia had seven extra early voting days than Delaware would after its regulation takes impact in 2022. 

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Delaware, the primary state to ratify the U.S. Structure, was among the many final within the nation to permit early voting, as 43 states permit some kind with a mean of 19 days earlier than Election Day, in accordance with the Nationwide Convention of State Legislatures.

Young voters show "I Voted" stickers after voting at a polling station in Plano, Texas, Nov. 3, 2020.

Younger voters present “I Voted” stickers after voting at a polling station in Plano, Texas, Nov. 3, 2020.
(Dan Tian/Xinhua through Getty )

The Delaware statute permits registrants to use to the Division of Elections for “everlasting absentee standing,” which means as a substitute of making use of for an absentee poll every election, a person might vote by absentee poll in perpetuity, with out consideration of the applicant’s eligibility in every subsequent election.

Nevertheless, the lawsuit asserts stress-free a few of Delaware’s strict voting legal guidelines could possibly be unlawful with regard to the Delaware Structure. 

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“Mr. Mennella is harmed as a result of he should select between implementing Delaware statutes and implementing the Delaware Structure,” the criticism filed in state court docket states. “Delaware statutes and defendants’ actions additionally hurt Mr. Mennella as a result of they require him to coach and direct these beneath his supervision to violate Delaware’s Structure and violate their respective oaths and duties. Mr. Mennella might face extreme penalties and even jail time if he violates Delaware regulation or his duties as an inspector of elections.”

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Mennella is represented by the Public Curiosity Authorized Basis, a authorized nonprofit that has racked up victories to require jurisdictions to brush the names of useless individuals and noncitizens from voter registration lists. The group, run by former Justice Division lawyer J. Christian Adams, additionally usually advocates for voter ID legal guidelines. 

The defendant, the Delaware Division of Elections, didn’t reply to inquiries for this story.

The criticism particularly references the Delaware Structure of 1831, as amended in 1855, that claims, “All elections for Governor, Senators, Representatives, Sheriffs and Coroners shall be held on the Tuesday subsequent after the primary Monday within the month of November of the yr during which they’re to be held, and be by poll.”

The Delaware Structure of 1897 – the model presently in impact – says particularly, “The overall election shall be held biennially on the Tuesday subsequent after the primary Monday within the month of November, and shall be by poll.” 

With respect to eligibility for absentee voting, the state’s structure says “any certified elector of this State, duly registered, who shall be unable to seem to solid his or her poll at any common election on the common polling place of the election district during which she or he is registered, both due to being within the public service of the USA or of this State, or his or her partner or dependents when residing with or accompanying her or him[,] due to the character of his or her enterprise or occupation, due to his or her illness or bodily incapacity, due to his or her absence from the district whereas on trip, or due to the tenets or teachings of his or her faith, might solid a poll at such common election to be counted in such election district.”

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The lawsuit solely applies to the November common election since that’s all of the Structure governs. 

The inspector of elections is the supervisor of a selected polling website and is charged with resolving disputes that may happen, making certain the protection of the election website, overseeing the conduct of the opposite election staff there and administering the oath to different election staff. 

“I had taken a number of lessons on the Structure in Delaware, and it appeared to me to battle,” stated Mennella, a resident of Delaware for 22 years who was an inspector in eight elections counting major contests and common elections. 

“I believe I first turned conscious of the everlasting absentee regulation the final election and was involved with the inaccuracies.” 

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Appeals court rules Texas has right to build razor wire border wall to deter illegal immigration: 'Huge win'

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Appeals court rules Texas has right to build razor wire border wall to deter illegal immigration: 'Huge win'

A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that Texas has the right to build a razor wire border wall to deter illegal immigration into the Lone Star State. 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced the ruling on X, saying President Biden was “wrong to cut our razor wire.” 

“We continue adding more razor wire border barrier,” the Republican leader wrote. 

Wednesday’s 2-1 decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals clears the way for Texas to pursue a lawsuit accusing the Biden administration of trespassing without having to remove the fencing.

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It also reversed a federal judge’s November 2023 refusal to grant a preliminary injunction to Texas as the state resisted federal efforts to remove fencing along the Rio Grande in the vicinity of Eagle Pass, Texas.

U.S. Border Patrol agents cut an opening through razor wire after immigrant families crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico in Eagle Pass, Texas, Sept. 27, 2023. (John Moore/Getty Images)

Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan, a Trump appointee during the president-elect’s first term, wrote for Wednesday’s majority that Texas was trying only to safeguard its own property, not “regulate” U.S. Border Patrol, and was likely to succeed in its trespass claims.

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Duncan said the federal government waived its sovereign immunity and rejected its concerns that a ruling by Texas would impede the enforcement of immigration law and undermine the government’s relationship with Mexico.

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TEXAS BORDER RAZOR WIRE

A Venezuelan immigrant asks Texas National Guard troops to let his family pass through razor wire after they crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico in Eagle Pass, Texas, Sept. 27, 2023. (John Moore/Getty Images)

He said the public interest “supports clear protections for property rights from government intrusion and control” and ensuring that federal immigration law enforcement does not “unnecessarily intrude into the rights of countless property owners.”

Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton called the ruling a “huge win for Texas.” 

“The Biden Administration has been enjoined from damaging, destroying, or otherwise interfering with Texas’s border fencing,” Paxton wrote in a post on X. “We sued immediately when the federal government was observed destroying fences to let illegal aliens enter, and we’ve fought every step of the way for Texas sovereignty and security.”

Texas border

Migrants attempt to cross the southern border in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, in February. (David Peinado/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The White House has been locked in legal battles with Texas and other states that have tried to deter illegal immigration. 

In May, the full 5th Circuit heard arguments in a separate case between Texas and the White House over whether the state can keep a 1,000-foot floating barrier on the Rio Grande.

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The appeals court is also reviewing a judge’s order blocking a Texas law that would allow state officials to arrest, prosecute and order the removal of people in the country illegally.

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Rep. Katie Porter obtains temporary restraining order against ex-boyfriend on harassment allegations

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Rep. Katie Porter obtains temporary restraining order against ex-boyfriend on harassment allegations

U.S. Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine) secured a temporary restraining order Tuesday against a former boyfriend, saying in dozens of pages of court filings that he had bombarded her, as well as her family and colleagues, with hundreds of messages that she described as “persistent abuse and harassment.”

Porter, 50, alleged in a filing with Orange County Superior Court that her ex-boyfriend Julian Willis, 55, was contacting her and her family with such frequency that she had a “significant fear” for her “personal safety and emotional well-being.”

Judge Stephen T. Hicklin signed a restraining order Tuesday barring Willis from communicating with Porter and her children until a mid-December court hearing. He also barred Willis from communicating about Porter with her current and former colleagues.

In the court filing, Porter said that Willis had been hospitalized twice since late 2022 on involuntary psychiatric holds and had a history of abusing prescription painkillers and other drugs.

She said in a statement to The Times that Willis’ mental health and struggles with addiction seemed to have gotten worse since she asked him in August to move out of her Irvine home. She said she sought the court order after his threats to her family and colleagues “escalated in both their frequency and intensity.”

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“I sincerely hope he gets the help he needs,” Porter said.

Willis declined to comment. He will have an opportunity to file a legal response to the temporary restraining order and challenge Porter’s allegations.

Porter is leaving the House of Representatives in January after losing in California’s U.S. Senate primary in March. She has been discussed as a front-runner in the 2026 governor’s race in California after Gov. Gavin Newsom is termed out, but has not said whether she will launch a campaign.

The 53-page court filing, first reported by Politico, included 22 pages of emails, text messages and other communications among Porter, family members and colleagues who had received messages from Willis, as well as messages that Willis sent to Porter’s attorney and to her political mentor Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

The filing also included messages between herself and Willis’ siblings as they discussed trying to help him during his psychiatric holds and while he was staying in a sober-living facility.

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Porter said that since she ordered Willis to move out, he had sent her more than 1,000 text messages and emails, including texting her 82 times in one 24-hour period in September, and 55 times on Nov. 12 before she blocked his number.

Porter said in the filing that her ex-boyfriend had “already contacted at least three reporters to disseminate false and damaging information” about her and her children, which she said “poses a serious risk to [her] career and personal reputation.”

The filing includes an email that Porter said Willis sent to her attorney late Monday, in which Willis said he had visited Porter’s son at college in Iowa and told him that he would “bring the hammer down on Katie and smash her and her life into a million pieces.”

Another screenshot shows Willis telling Porter’s attorney that he would file a complaint about Porter, who has children ages 12 and 16, with child protective services.

One of Porter’s congressional staff members received a text message from Willis saying he would “punish the f—” out of him if he did not agree to “cooperate” with a New York Times reporter and Willis’ attorneys, according to a screenshot included in the court document.

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Willis previously made the news in 2021, when he was arrested after a fight that broke out at a Porter town hall at a park in Irvine.

Times staff writer Christopher Goffard contributed to this report.

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Homan taking death threats against him ‘more seriously’ after Trump officials targeted with violent threats

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Homan taking death threats against him ‘more seriously’ after Trump officials targeted with violent threats

Incoming Trump border czar Tom Homan reacted to news of death threats against Trump nominees on Wednesday and said he now takes the death threats he has previously received seriously. 

“I have not taken this serious up to this point,” Homan told Fox News anchor Gillian Turner on “The Story” on Wednesday, referring to previous death threats made against him and his family. 

“Now that I know what’s happened in the last 24 hours. I will take it a little more serious. But look, I’ve been dealing with this. When I was the ICE director in the first administration, I had numerous death threats. I had a security detail with me all the time. Even after I retired, death threats continued and even after I retired as the ICE Director. I had U.S. Marshals protection for a long time to protect me and my family.”

Homan explained that what “doesn’t help” the situation is the “negative press” around Trump. 

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President Elect Donald Trump, left, and new appointed Tom Homan, right (Getty)

“I’m not in the cabinet, but, you know, I’ve read numerous hit pieces. I mean, you know, I’m a racist and, you know, I’m the father of family separation, all this other stuff. So the hate media doesn’t help at all because there are some nuts out there. They’ll take advantage. So that doesn’t help.”

Homan’s comments come shortly after Fox News Digital first reported that nearly a dozen of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees and other appointees tapped for the incoming administration were targeted Tuesday night with “violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” prompting a “swift” law enforcement response.

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Donald Trump in a blue suit and red tie pumps his fist in the air and looks up

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump pumps his fist as he arrives to speak at a campaign event at Nassau Coliseum, Wednesday, Sept.18, 2024, in Uniondale, N.Y. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The “attacks ranged from bomb threats to ‘swatting,’” according to Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman and incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

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“Last night and this morning, several of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees and administration appointees were targeted in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” she told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. “In response, law enforcement acted quickly to ensure the safety of those who were targeted. President Trump and the entire Transition team are grateful for their swift action.” 

Sources told Fox News Digital that John Ratcliffe, the nominee to be CIA director, Pete Hegseth, the nominee for secretary of defense, and Rep. Elise Stefanik, the nominee for UN ambassador, were among those targeted. Brooke Rollins, who Trump has tapped to be secretary of agriculture, and Lee Zeldin, Trump’s nominee to be EPA administrator, separately revealed they were also targeted. 

Threats were also made against Trump’s Labor Secretary nominee, GOP Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, and former Trump attorney general nominee Matt Gaetz’s family. 

Trump holds fist

Republican candidate Donald Trump is seen with blood on his face surrounded by secret service agents as he is taken off the stage at a campaign event at Butler Farm Show Inc. in Butler, Pennsylvania, July 13, 2024.  Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images (Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images)

Homan told Fox News that he is “not going to be intimidated by these people” and “I’m not going to let them silence me.”

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“What I’ve learned today I’ll start taking a little more serious.”

Homan added that he believes “we need to have a strong response once we find out is behind all this.”

“It’s illegal to threaten someone’s life. And we need to follow through with that.”

The threats on Tuesday night came mere months after Trump survived two assassination attempts.

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report

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