The League of Women Voters, League of Women Voters of Virginia, League of Women Voters of Louisiana, and Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), along with five individual plaintiffs, have filed a class action lawsuit contesting the Trump-Vance administration’s “unlawful creation of massive government databases consolidating sensitive and legally protected personal information on millions of people in America to unlawfully open investigations and purge voter rolls.”*
“This country was founded on the principle that government has no business arbitrarily intruding in our private affairs,” said John Davisson, Director of Litigation for the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). “Yet this administration is trampling on our privacy at the grandest scale, illegally hoarding our sensitive personal information and threatening our most cherished rights. The law is clear: no national data bank. Together we’ll put a stop to this in court.”
League of Women Voters v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security
- The Complaint Alleges The Administration Has Unlawfully
- Transformed the DHS’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system into a national citizenship database pooling SSA data known to be unreliable, now being used by some states to purge voter rolls and open criminal investigations.
- Built a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) “Data Lake” that combines records from the IRS, SSA, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Labor, and state voter registration databases — containing Social Security numbers, tax information, medical records, biometric data, and children’s case files.
*The coalition is represented by Democracy Forward, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), and Fair Elections Center. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, details how the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Social Security Administration (SSA), and other agencies have secretly merged personal data from across the federal government into centralized “Interagency Databases” in direct violation of the Privacy Act of 1974 and the U.S. Constitution.
“The federal government’s secretive and unlawful collection and consolidation of Americans’ personal data is a clear example of the constitutional crisis we are living through,” said Celina Stewart, CEO of the League of Women Voters. “Our federal government is abusing its power to access American’s personal information, and several states are using that private data to harm voters and our individual right to privacy. The League is proud to be heading to court to protect voters, our members, and historically disenfranchised communities from illegal government abuse.”
“News reports have repeatedly identified ways in which this administration is mishandling sensitive information and putting Americans’ data privacy at risk. And now, yet again, this administration is playing fast and loose with our personal information – building exactly the kind of ‘Big Brother’ databases Congress has repeatedly outlawed more than 50 years ago,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward. “Pooling sensitive personal records from across the government not only violates the law, it threatens Americans’ privacy, voting rights, and civil liberties. We’re in court to stop it.”
“The government’s creation of massive, secret databases of Americans’ personal information, in violation of the law, poses serious privacy and data-security risks and threatens to disenfranchise eligible voters,” said Noah Bookbinder, President and CEO of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “States are already reportedly using these databases to open criminal investigations and to purge state voter rolls based on citizenship information that the government itself has admitted is unreliable. This illegal overreach is unacceptable, and we are proud to represent these plaintiffs as they take action to stop it.”
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
Lawsuit Filed Against Trump-Vance National Data Banks
The League of Women Voters, League of Women Voters of Virginia, League of Women Voters of Louisiana, and Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), along with five individual plaintiffs, have filed a class action lawsuit contesting the Trump-Vance administration’s “unlawful creation of massive government databases consolidating sensitive and legally protected personal information on millions of people in America to unlawfully open investigations and purge voter rolls.”*
“This country was founded on the principle that government has no business arbitrarily intruding in our private affairs,” said John Davisson, Director of Litigation for the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). “Yet this administration is trampling on our privacy at the grandest scale, illegally hoarding our sensitive personal information and threatening our most cherished rights. The law is clear: no national data bank. Together we’ll put a stop to this in court.”
League of Women Voters v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security
*The coalition is represented by Democracy Forward, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), and Fair Elections Center. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, details how the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Social Security Administration (SSA), and other agencies have secretly merged personal data from across the federal government into centralized “Interagency Databases” in direct violation of the Privacy Act of 1974 and the U.S. Constitution.
“The federal government’s secretive and unlawful collection and consolidation of Americans’ personal data is a clear example of the constitutional crisis we are living through,” said Celina Stewart, CEO of the League of Women Voters. “Our federal government is abusing its power to access American’s personal information, and several states are using that private data to harm voters and our individual right to privacy. The League is proud to be heading to court to protect voters, our members, and historically disenfranchised communities from illegal government abuse.”
“News reports have repeatedly identified ways in which this administration is mishandling sensitive information and putting Americans’ data privacy at risk. And now, yet again, this administration is playing fast and loose with our personal information – building exactly the kind of ‘Big Brother’ databases Congress has repeatedly outlawed more than 50 years ago,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward. “Pooling sensitive personal records from across the government not only violates the law, it threatens Americans’ privacy, voting rights, and civil liberties. We’re in court to stop it.”
“The government’s creation of massive, secret databases of Americans’ personal information, in violation of the law, poses serious privacy and data-security risks and threatens to disenfranchise eligible voters,” said Noah Bookbinder, President and CEO of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “States are already reportedly using these databases to open criminal investigations and to purge state voter rolls based on citizenship information that the government itself has admitted is unreliable. This illegal overreach is unacceptable, and we are proud to represent these plaintiffs as they take action to stop it.”
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn. He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe. Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap. AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks. Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.