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Last Updated: March 18, 2013 at 10:43 AM

Mi Familia Vota Education Fund v. Detzner

Case Information

Date Filed: June 8, 2012
State: Florida
Issues: Voter Eligibility, Voter Fraud, State Voter Registration Databases
Current Court: U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida (Case 8:12-cv-01294)

Issue:

Whether the Florida Secretary of State violated Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by purging voters off the state's voting rolls.

Status:

Complaint filed 6/8/12. Motion to Dismiss filed 7/13/12. First Amended Complaint filed 7/27/12. Order Denying Motion to Dimiss entered 9/18/12. Answer to First Amended Complaint filed 10/2/12. Trial set for 8/5/13.

District Court Documents

Complaint (filed 6/8/12)
Detzner Summons (filed 6/8/12)
Notification of Request for Three Judge Court (filed 7/12/12)
Detzner's Motion to Dismiss (filed 7/13/12)
First Amended Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief (filed 7/27/12)
Statement of Interest of the United States (filed 7/27/12)
Motion to Dismiss Denied as Moot Based on Amended Complaint (7/30/12)
Order Setting Three Judge Panel (filed 7/30/12)
Motion to Dismiss Amended Complaint (filed 8/20/12)
Supplemental Statement of Interest of the United States (filed 9/4/12)
Plaintiff's Opposition to Defendant's Motion to Dismiss (filed 9/4/12)
Secretary's Motion for Leave to File Reply in Support of Motion to Dismiss (Granted) (filed 9/11/12)
Secretary's Reply in Support of Motion to Dismiss First Amended Complaint (filed 9/13/12)
Order Denying Motion to Dismiss (filed 9/18/12)
Secretary's Answer to First Amended Complaint (filed 10/2/12)
Order to Show Cause (filed 10/22/12)
Plaintiffs' Response to Order to Show Cause (filed 10/22/12)
Discovery Schedule (filed 10/23/12)
Order Setting Trial Date (filed 10/29/12)
Order Discharging Order to Show Cause (filed 10/30/12)
Unopposed Motion for Stay of Proceedings (filed 12/17/12)
Order Granting Stay (filed 12/17/12)
Motion for Stay (filed 1/25/13)
Plaintiff's Opposition to Defendant's Motion to Stay (filed 2/6/13)
Order Granting Stay in Part (filed 2/11/13)
Joint Motion for Entry of Stipulated Protective Order (filed 3/1/13)
Order Granting Motion for Protective Order (filed 3/13/13)

Commentary

FAQ on social welfare organizations

Donald B. Tobin

The Frank E. and Virginia H. Bazler Designated Professor in Business Law and a senior fellow at Election Law @ Moritz explains the nuances of social welfare organizations and federal regulations related to them.

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In the News

How Did The IRS Get The Job Of Vetting Political Activity?

Professor Donald Tobin was interviewed by the Boston NPR station on its show Here & Now about the Internal Revenue Service's investigation into groups classified as social welfare organizations (marked by the 501(c)(4) tax classification). The IRS was in search of groups that are not focusing primarly on the social welfare of the country, but have a strong political advocacy facet. Political advocacy groups might want to be classified as 501(c)(4) organizations because under that classification they do not have to disclose their donors.

"The key is if you going to be engaged in candidate-type advocacy, and if you're going to intervene in elections and engage in election advocacy, we want disclosure of who your donors are," Tobin said.

“What groups are trying to do here is avoid having to disclose,” Tobin continued. “By earning the classification of social welfare, they’re avoiding the campaign disclosure that’s required for political organizations. So that’s really the underpinning of why we have this mess of the IRS having to get in and investigate and figure out whether an organization is political or not.”

more EL@M in the news...

Info & Analysis

Ohio House Committee Recommends Upholding Landis' Election Victory

Yesterday, an Ohio House of Representatives committee recommended 5-4 that the Ohio House uphold the election victory of Republican State Representative Al Landis over Democratic challenger Josh O'Farrell. In February, the Ohio Supreme Court sent the O'Farrell v. Landis record to the House for consideration. According to an article in the Canton Repository, committee chairman and State Representative Matt Huffman said he expects a vote by the full House later this month.

more info & analysis...

Major Pending Cases

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