(NEW YORK) – Two U.S. citizens who made robocalls to purposefully disenfranchise Black voters are now prohibited from sending any more robocalls, text messages, or similar forms of mass communication before the Election Day, and must notify all recipients of the first robocall that the call was false and illegal, a New York federal district court ruled today.
United States District Court Judge Victor Marrero issued an order finding the robocalls infringe on an individuals’ right to vote, free of any intimidations or threats. In his order, Judge Marrero states the two citizens were engaging in ‘electoral terror,’ provoking the same fear that the Ku Klux Klan sought to produce. “The public’s interests require that this Court take firm and swift action against all who intimidate voters – hooded or not,” Judge Marrero wrote. He also declared their actions as direct interference with a voters’ right to cast their ballot in any legal way they choose.
“New technologies make it easier for people to connect, but we must enforce and enhance our civil rights laws to protect all Americans from the racism and terror that flows from the weaponization of these technologies,” said David Brody, lead attorney for the Digital Justice Initiative at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “This ruling upholds the sanctity of our election, and ensures that no other voter will be threatened by the actions of these two individuals. Voting is a sacred civic duty that all Americans must be able to participate in, without any fear, intimidation, or distress.”
“In the current version of events, the means Defendants use to intimidate voters, though born of fear and similarly powered by hate, are not guns, torches, burning crosses, and other dire methods perpetrated under the cover of white hoods,” the court wrote. “Rather, Defendants carry out electoral terror using telephones, computers, and modern technology adapted to serve the same deleterious ends. Because of the vastly greater population they can reach instantly with false and dreadful information, contemporary means of voter intimidation may be more detrimental to free elections than the approaches taken for that purpose in past eras, and hence call for swift and effective judicial relief.”
“We are gratified the judge acted swiftly to put a stop to this despicable, racially-motivated campaign to discourage voters from casting their ballots in the upcoming presidential election,” said Orrick Partner Amy Walsh. “Those who do so threaten the stability of our country and the rule of law.”
The litigation, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation v. Wohl, was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York earlier this month by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP on behalf of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and eight registered voters. The lawsuit claimed that the two citizens engaged in a coordinated and calculated effort to intimidate the Black voters, and under the Voting Rights Act and Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, the two citizens directly interfered with voters’ rights for the 2020 general election, which is illegal.
Plaintiffs said the following:
“This was a clear attempt at suppressing Black votes in the middle of a major general election,” said Melanie Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. “The court has made clear that this campaign of racist, dangerous lies that was intended to discourage people from voting will not be tolerated. The voices of Black Americans will be heard.”
Read the ruling here.
Read the motion for a temporary restraining order here.
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