On Thursday evening, around the same time the Justice Department overruled career prosecutors in order to bring charges against former FBI Director James Comey, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division sued six states—California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania—for failing to hand over their full, unredacted voter registration lists. The new legal actions signify a ramping up of the Trump administration’s voter-suppression agenda in the wake of similar lawsuits the department filed last week against Maine and Oregon.

Thelawsuits may seem unrelated to Comey’s indictment, but both developments show how the DOJ has been weaponized in an unprecedented way to target Trump’s political opponents and retaliate against those who resist his extreme MAGA agenda.

The DOJ has demanded voter registration lists, which include sensitive personal information like driver’s license and Social Security numbers, from at least 27 states, and is reportedly attempting to build a national voter database, which has never been done before. This could endanger voter privacy and become a prime target for hackers, while the DOJ could abuse such a list to retaliate against voters based on party affiliation and promote Trump’s debunked claims of widespread voter fraud.

I explained the risks in a recent article:

In particular, the DOJ appears eager to share state voter data with the Department of Homeland Security, in orderto comb through federal immigration databases to search for cases of ineligible voting or noncitizens on the voter rolls. Such databases are not designed for those purposes and will likely produce inaccurate results, especially becausesuch fraud is also exceedingly rare. Nonetheless, this will give them an opportunity to trumpet fake claims of fraud in order to advance Trump’s lies about the voting process.

“My guess is they want the voter files to be able to say we have the voter files and we know there are x or y fraudulent people on it,” says Justin Levitt, who served as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division under President Obama. “It will be fiction, but now they’ll say it because they have them. Even if they find an infinitesimal number of wrong people on the rolls, they will lie about the numbers. This administration cannot be trusted. They have an enormous problem with credibility and an even bigger problem with data.”

Both red and blue states have resisted sharing their voter data with the Trump administration. A similar demand during Trump’s first term from his “election integrity” commission sparked a national outcry, but the responses this time have been more muted. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, “few states have sent the DOJ their voter files, and those that did—at least 11—seem to have provided only the publicly available versions of their voter files.”

“The Justice Department’s demand for voters’ personal information, including driver’s license numbers and Social Security numbers, is unprecedented and unlawful, and we will vigorously fight the federal government’s overreach in court,” Al Schmidt, Pennsylvania’s Republican secretary of state, said in a statement. California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, a Democrat, called the DOJ lawsuit “a fishing expedition and pretext for partisan policy objectives.”

The demand for sensitive data is but one aspect of the Trump DOJ’s assault on voting rights. The department alsofiled a brief this week in a Louisiana redistricting case, urgingthe Supreme Court to dramatically gut the Voting Rights Act (VRA).

Under a court order, Louisiana drew a second majority-Black congressional district in advance of the 2024 election, which the Supreme Court allowed, despite legal challenges, at least for the time being. The state, which is about one-third Black, has six congressional districts. In its brief, the DOJ called the new map “a form of electoral race-based affirmative action” and urged the Court to make it far more difficult to draw districts that would allow voters of color to elect their candidates of choice, essentially dealing a death blow to the VRA. “Effectively, this is asking SCOTUS to gut the VRA without saying you are gutting the VRA,” Michael Li, a redistricting expert at the Brennan Center, wrote on Bluesky.

The DOJ has already weaponized the VRA to boost Republican gerrymandering efforts. In early July, the department sent a letter to Texas alleging that four congressional districts, all represented by Black or Hispanic Democrats, were “unconstitutional racial gerrymanders.” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott cited that letter as a justification for redrawing the state’s map this summer, on Trump’s orders, to give Republicans five more US House seats.

But in court documents filed this week, Texas threw the DOJ under the bus, denouncing its “ham-fisted legal conclusions,” which “apparently sought to provide political cover for Texas to engage in partisan redistricting.” The disavowal of the DOJ’s argument is particularly notable given how closely Texas worked with the Trump administration to redraw its map.

The partisan legal advocacy, meddling in state affairs, and similar actions by the DOJ have made it increasingly clear that the department, and the administration, intend to turn civil rights laws on their head, using them to target the very communities they were designed to protect.

This post has been syndicated from Mother Jones, where it was published under this address.

Trump’s housing department rolls back work to combat residential segregation, whistleblowers allege

Allegations against Hud are latest sign of administration’s plans to transform enforcement of US civil rights laws

^{Chris Stein (The Guardian)}

This story was originally published by Canary Media and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

Small solar-panel kits that can be assembled as easily as an Ikea bookcase and plugged into a regular residential outlet could be coming soon to New Hampshire and Vermont. Lawmakers and advocates in both states are preparing legislation that would make these plug-in solar systems accessible to residents who don’t have the space, money, or inclination to install a larger, conventional rooftop array.

“It’s really about energy affordability,” said Kevin Chou, cofounder of Bright Saver, a nonprofit that advocates for the adoption of plug-in solar. ​“It’s about access for people who wanted solar but haven’t been able to get it.”

These systems—also called ​“portable” or ​“balcony” solar — generally come in kits that even a novice can put together at home. They plug into a standard outlet, sending the power they generate into a home’s wires, rather than drawing electricity out.

Unlike rooftop arrays, plug-in systems don’t generate enough power to meet all, or even most, of a household’s needs, but they offset enough consumption to pay for themselves within four or five years, even without incentives like tax credits or net metering, Chou said. Models now on the market start at about $2,000. If the equipment becomes more popular and prices come down, the payback period could get even shorter.

“You don’t need any subsidies to make this work,” Chou said. ​“The pure economics are so attractive, it’s one of the best investments you can make.”

These systems have taken off in Germany, where more than a million have been deployed, but have been much slower to catch on in the United States.

DIY solar “seemed like something that would fit into the ethos of people being able to make individual choices.”

Recently, though, the idea has gained traction in the US. In March, Utah lawmakers, working with Bright Saver, unanimously passed a law authorizing and regulating the equipment, making it the first state to lay out the welcome mat for plug-in solar. Last month, a Pennsylvania state representative announced plans to introduce a similar law, and Bright Saver is having conversations with lawmakers in about a dozen additional states about possible legislation, Chou said.

All of the legislative proposals follow the same principles as Utah’s law: They would define a new class of small, portable solar systems, and establish the right of households to use the systems without submitting applications or paying fees to the state or utilities. They also define safety standards for the systems, including that they be certified by Underwriters Laboratories, or UL, a company that sets standards and provides safety certifications for a wide range of products.

At the moment, two manufacturers make plug-in solar systems with inverters that have been certified as complying with safety requirements, Chou said. Because the market for portable solar is so new, however, UL has not developed standards for entire systems. Bright Saver and other plug-in solar supporters have been working with the company on this issue and expect a standard to be released in the next month or two, Chou said.

Other startups are waiting in the wings, hoping to launch their own products next year, once the questions about UL standards are resolved, he added.

“Bottom line: Once Vermont’s legislation passes, there will be existing manufacturers ready to sell into the state immediately, along with new entrants waiting for additional UL clarity, who are also preparing to launch,” Chou said.

Supporters hope the benefits of plug-in solar—lower electricity costs, freedom to make personal energy choices—will help the idea gain support even in states not known for their embrace of renewable energy, and despite federal efforts to slow or stop renewable energy progress. The early and robust acceptance of the technology in deep-red Utah has bolstered this vision.

“I am optimistic that, as in Utah, it’s going to be seen as a commonsense way to just get out of the way and let people do good things,” said Ben Edgerly Walsh, climate and energy program director at the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, an organization backing Vermont’s expected plug-in solar bill.

“This creates access for folks who might otherwise not have the authority to put something on their roof.”

In New Hampshire, a swing state known for its ​“live free or die” libertarian streak, Democratic state Sen. David Watters also thinks this dynamic might work in the technology’s favor, despite the state’s historical lack of support for measures boosting solar use.

“We’re really kind of stuck in a rut with anti-renewable-energy sentiment in the House,” Watters said. ​“This seemed like something that would fit into the ethos of people being able to make individual choices.”

Watters, a member of the state Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee, worked with local advocacy group Clean Energy New Hampshire to author a rough draft of a plug-in solar bill based on Utah’s new law. It will be refined in the coming months and formally introduced in the legislature in January.

Notably, Watters said, his proposal would not stop homeowners associations or landlords from imposing their own rules on members and tenants.

“Their authority is not taken away,” he said. ​“For this state, that’s crucial.”

In Vermont, two Democratic state legislators—Sen. Anne Watson, chair of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy, and Rep. Kathleen James, chair of the counterpart committee in the House—are championing a plug-in solar bill based on model legislation drafted by Bright Saver. Watson is particularly excited for the potential of plug-in solar to reach low-income residents and renters.

“This creates access for folks who might otherwise not have the authority to put something on their roof, or who might need something a little more flexible,” she said.

Vermont, a decidedly left-leaning state, has long welcomed renewables. The state’s governor, Phil Scott, however, is a Republican who has shown reluctance to spend public money on clean energy. Further, the legislature lost its veto-proof Democratic majorities during the last election, so prospects for forward movement on energy and climate issues have been dimmed this year.

However, Watson has already heard a lot of positive feedback from her fellow lawmakers, even though the bill won’t be taken up until the legislature reconvenes in January. Indeed, several colleagues came to her with similar proposals before learning she was already working on it. She has also had initial conversations with the Scott administration and found it willing to consider the idea, she said.

“While I can’t say they are necessarily for it, the reception I’ve received so far is that they are open and interested in learning more,” she said. ​“I am hoping for broad support.”

This post has been syndicated from Mother Jones, where it was published under this address.

Plug-in solar bills are in the works in New Hampshire and Vermont

DIY "balcony" solar kits, which can save residents money and give them more independence, are piquing interest from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

^{Canary Media}