Federal judge orders DOJ to ensure poll monitors are not law enforcement officials
A federal judge denied the NAACP’s request to block the Justice Department from sending election monitors to polling places, but ordered the department to ensure they are not sworn law...
By Fox News · Fox News
A federal judge denied the NAACP’s request to block the Justice Department from sending election monitors to polling places, but ordered the department to ensure they are not sworn law enforcement officers and cannot make arrests. U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, in an order Monday night, said the DOJ must also ensure its monitors are unarmed, out of uniform and do not display insignia identifying them as federal employees. The order applies to the department’s poll monitoring program for Election Day, Nov. 3. BIDEN-APPOINTED JUDGE BLOCKS VOTER-FRAUD PROBES IN BATTLEGROUND STATES JUST DAYS BEFORE MIDTERMS "The Court is therefore unpersuaded by the plaintiffs' assertion that a person who is simply 'project[ing a] command[ing] presence, scan[ning] crowds, and more" – without any outward indications of law enforcement authority – would generate objectively reasonable fear in a voter," according to Walton, who was nominated to the Washington, D.C., court by former President George W. Bush. "Thus, the Court finds that in conjunction with the defendants’ public statements regarding voter fraud and election integrity, the deployment of these individuals as election monitors would not place the average voter 'in reasonable fear of harassment and interference with their right to vote.'" The NAACP had sought a temporary restraining order barring the DOJ from deploying personnel from agencies including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Prisons. The group argued their presence could intimidate voters and violate the Voting Rights Act . Walton denied the motion without prejudice, finding that the current record did not show the NAACP was likely to succeed on its claim. He said the DOJ ’s representations at a hearing addressed his concerns: the monitors would be administrative or clerical employees, not sworn officers, and would not carry firearms. TRUMP-APPOINTED JUDGE SLAMS…