Kris Kobach found in contempt of court in voting rights case
A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state and vice chairman of President Trump's now-defunct election integrity commission, was in contempt of court after not complying with orders to notify voters they were registered and qualified to vote in the 2016 presidential election.
The American Civil Liberties Union had challenged the Kansas Documentary Proof of Citizenship law in May 2016, and won. U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson said that Kobach failed to comply with the court's order to let voters who registered at the DMV but did not have proof of citizenship know they were eligible to vote in the November election.
Kobach, a Republican who is running for governor of Kansas, will have to pay attorneys fees for the plaintiffs, but Robinson said he "has a history of noncompliance," and she may order additional remedies later.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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