Federal Judge Throws Out Trump's Bid to Block Alaska Senate Certification
Judge Sharon Gleason ruled the Justice Department cannot bring the suit and said the relief it sought would likely violate Alaskans' right to a secret ballot. DOJ says it will appeal.
A federal judge on Sunday threw out the Trump administration's highly unusual attempt to block certification of a key U.S. Senate race in Alaska if the Republican incumbent loses, ruling that the federal government has no ability to bring the lawsuit.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason found that the Justice Department could not sue under the preamble of the National Voter Registration Act, the statute it cited. The suit asked her to stop state officials from certifying results so the government could investigate whether voters were confused by having two similarly named Senate candidates on Alaska's ranked-choice ballot.
Gleason said such an order would likely violate the right of Alaska voters to a secret ballot. "The absence of any explanation from the United States as to how its requested relief could redress its alleged injury while simultaneously maintaining the secrecy of the ballot is telling," wrote Gleason, a nominee of former President Barack Obama.
The Justice Department plans to appeal, spokesperson Kiersten Pels told NPR. "Alaskan voters deserve a fair election, not to be misled in an attempt to rig outcomes," she said. Voting rights groups that intervened to help defend the state welcomed the ruling. Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the ACLU's Voting Rights Project, said the attempt to throw out Alaska's results "before a single ballot was counted was lawless from the start" and called it a reckless waste of taxpayer money.
President Trump said he ordered the lawsuit because two of the four Senate candidates on Alaska's ballot have similar names: Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, the incumbent, and Daniel Sullivan Jr., who is not affiliated with a political party. Alaska's Republican Party backed an earlier effort in state court to keep Sullivan Jr. off the ballot, but in June the Alaska Supreme Court ruled he has the right to run.
Republican allegations that Democrats propped up Sullivan Jr. to spoil the incumbent's chances have hung over the contest ever since. A New York Times report about Democratic operatives' efforts to recruit him, which NPR has not independently confirmed, drew new attention to the claims. Alaska's Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy has ordered an investigation and suggested the state might not certify the race depending on what it finds. "If we find out there's wrongdoing, and if that means that the certification then is stopped or changed, then that's what happens," Dunleavy told NewsNation on Oct. 30.
At an Anchorage press conference the same day, U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman said a Justice Department criminal probe is ongoing. The Democratic candidate, former Rep. Mary Peltola, has denied any involvement.
The legal fight has not slowed voting. More than 86,700 Alaskans had cast early ballots by the latest count from the state Division of Elections, and voting continues through Tuesday's Election Day. In an interview Sunday on CNN's State of the Union, Sullivan said he would accept the election results, win or lose.
