{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://neguse.house.gov/media/press-releases/assistant-leader-neguse-chair-litigation-task-force-leads-150-current-and", "Assistant Leader Neguse, Chair of Litigation Task Force, Leads 150+ Current and Former House Democrats & Republicans in Urging Supreme Court to Block Trump DHS Voter Purge Database", "2026-09-15", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "House", "CO", "Joe Neguse", "N000191", "neguse.house.gov", "neguse", "https://neguse.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2014 For the second time in two weeks, current and former Members of the House of Representatives are challenging the Trump administration\u2019s ongoing attempt to unconstitutionally exercise control over election administration and create chaos in the upcoming midterm elections. Today\u2019s action follows the Litigation Task Force\u2019s successful advocacy before the Supreme Court and the denial of Donald Trump\u2019s attempts to restrict mail-in ballots.\n\n154 current and former Members from the House of Representatives, Democratic and Republican, filed an amicus brief at the U.S. Supreme Court urging the justices to halt the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to build and make available a massive illegal database containing the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans. The expanded system, which links information from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration, unlawfully puts Americans\u2019 most sensitive personal information at risk while relying on questionable data that federal agents have raised concerns may be inaccurate. Those errors could result in eligible U.S. citizens being improperly flagged and removed from voter rolls, potentially denying an untold number of Americans their constitutional right to vote.\n\nThe coalition filed its amicus brief in League of Women Voters v. Department of Homeland Security, arguing that the administration\u2019s efforts to create and use this database violate the law on two main grounds. First, the database violates the Privacy Act, enacted by Congress in the 1970s in part to prevent the creation of a \u201ccentralized Federal information system\u201d that would consolidate Americans\u2019 sensitive information stored across federal agencies. And second, Congress has repeatedly declined to authorize the creation of state-by-state citizenship lists, most recently by failing to advance the SAVE Act and SAVE America Act, and so the Trump Administration is unconstitutionally violating the separation of powers by attempting to achieve through lawless executive action what it failed to achieve through legislation.\n\nClick HERE to read the brief in its entirety.\n\nThe bipartisan group is led by Assistant House Minority Leader Joe Neguse, who leads the House Democrats\u2019 Litigation Task Force; Task Force Co-Chairs Oversight Ranking Member Robert Garcia and Judiciary Ranking Member Jamie Raskin; as well as House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, House Administration Ranking Member Joe Morelle, and Homeland Security Ranking Member Bennie G. Thompson.\n\nThe Republican lawmakers that joined this court filing include former Representatives Charles W. Boustany, Jr. (2005-2017), Barbara Comstock (2015-2019), Mickey Edwards (1977-1993), James C. Greenwood (1993-2005), Steve Gunderson (1981-1997), John LeBoutillier (1981-1983), Susan Molinari (1990-1997), Claudine Schneider (1981-1991), Peter Smith (1989-1991), and David Trott (2015-2019).\n\nKeep scrolling to see what the leading lawmakers had to say about the matter:\n\n\u201cHouse Democrats\u2019 Litigation Task Force will continue to vindicate our constitution and fight back against Donald Trump efforts to disenfranchise American citizens,\u201d said House Assistant Minority Leader Joe Neguse. \u201cThe president\u2019s plan to create federal lists that dictate who can and cannot vote in elections is not only violative of laws enacted by Congress but also relies on questionable data Homeland Security agents themselves have said will result in an untold number of lawful citizens losing their right to vote. It is an attempt to sow chaos ahead of the 2026 midterms and must be struck down by the Supreme Court \u2014 immediately.\u201d\n\n\u201cTrump\u2019s asking the courts to let his Administration create the very federal database Congress repeatedly declined to authorize: a comprehensive Orwellian system that collects and shares Americans\u2019 most sensitive personal information while creating the risk of wrongly purging eligible voters from the rolls. I\u2019m proud to stand strong with my colleagues urging the Supreme Court to protect individual Americans\u2019 privacy and voting rights\u2014and the integrity of our free and fair elections\u2014from this outrageous and illegal power grab,\u201d said Ranking Member Jamie Raskin.\n\n\u201cThe Trump Administration is trying to create a massive database of Americans\u2019 sensitive personal information that could disenfranchise voters across the country. This system relies on incomplete data that directly targets the right to privacy and the right to vote. We are urging the Supreme Court to stop this immediately and protect Americans\u2019 right to vote,\u201d said Ranking Member Robert Garcia.\n\n\u201cNo matter how hard he tries, Donald Trump will never succeed in taking over our elections,\u201d said Leader Jeffries. \u201cI am grateful to Reps. Neguse, Garcia, Raskin, Morelle and Bennie Thompson and the Litigation Task Force for leading House Democrats in this latest effort to stand up to Donald Trump\u2019s ongoing unlawful and unconstitutional effort to sow chaos ahead of the midterms, deny eligible Americans the right to vote and exert undue federal control over our elections.\u201d\n\n\u201cDemocrats and Republicans agree - this Administration cannot ignore Congress. Once again, Trump is mounting a wildly illegal attack on our elections. Presidents do not control our elections. The American people do,\" said Ranking Member Joe Morelle.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a reason our Constitution gives states and Congress the power to manage our elections: to stop despots like Donald Trump,\u201d added Ranking Member Bennie G. Thompson. \u201cThe Supreme Court must stop Trump\u2019s illegal actions to create error-ridden citizen databases to disenfranchise voters and rig our elections.\u201d\n\nBackground\n\nThe Litigation Task Force launched in the first month that followed President Donald Trump\u2019s chaotic return to office. We immediately set out to push back against an administration showing no respect for the Constitution or rule of law\u2014and haven\u2019t stopped since.\n\nI the fight to protect American election security: last Tuesday, the Task Force urged the Supreme Court to block Trump\u2019s Executive Order seeking to exert control over mail-in ballots ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. As noted above, less than a week later, the Court agreed and barred the USPS from putting the challenged mail-ballot requirements into effect for the 2026 midterm election.\n\nFor more information on the Litigation Task Force\u2019s efforts to protect Americans against the unlawful actions of the Trump administration, visit litigationandresponse.house.gov.\n\n###", 1, "2026-09-16T09:43:13Z", "2026-09-16T09:44:22Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://neguse.house.gov/media/press-releases/assistant-leader-neguse-chair-litigation-task-force-leads-150-current-and"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9180321358144283, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}