Appointees in President Donald Trump's administration at the Department of Justice have ordered the dismissal of all voting rights cases and removed managers of the division responsible for overseeing them.
Sources told The Guardian that all active cases in the voting rights section were expected to be dropped. The move comes less than a month after Harmeet Dhillon, a Trump ally, was appointed to lead the Civil Rights Division.
"In an unusual move, Dhillon sent out new 'mission statements' to the department’s sections that made it clear the civil rights division was shifting its focus from protecting the civil rights of marginalized people to supporting Trump’s priorities," the paper said.
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Tamar Hagler, the chief of the voting section, was sidelined along with five other career managers. The unit was responsible for enforcing laws against voter discrimination.
The section's two remaining managers were either reassigned or retired, the report noted.
"Political appointees have also instructed career employees to dismiss all of their active cases without meeting with them and offering a rationale – a significant break with the department’s practices and norms," the Guardian added. "Taken together, the changes have raised significant alarm about what the future of voting rights enforcement will look like for the federal government at a moment when states continue to pass restrictive voting measures."