The US Justice Department is ramping up for November’s presidential election as it weighs in on voting rights fights, investigates threats, and prepares to resume briefings with social media companies aimed at curbing the spread of misinformation.
Bloomberg
Published3 Aug 2024, 12:10 AM IST
US Justice Department Boosts Effort to Avoid Election Mayhem
(Bloomberg) -- The US Justice Department is ramping up for November’s presidential election as it weighs in on voting rights fights, investigates threats, and prepares to resume briefings with social media companies aimed at curbing the spread of misinformation.
US officials are seeking to avoid the chaos and violence that followed the 2020 election. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco is set to highlight election-related efforts in a Friday speech to the American Bar Association, including “the key role” lawyers play in defending democracy, the department said.
Monaco’s speech will cap a string of recent developments across the department’s election-related activities. Earlier this week, US intelligence and law enforcement officials briefed reporters on looming foreign and domestic threats to the election and Attorney General Merrick Garland addressed election security in a prime-time televised interview.
Although it’s common for the Justice Department to play a role in elections, events following the 2020 poll — when Donald Trump tried to enlist the DOJ’s help in overturning the results — still loom large. Republicans are hunting for signs of the Biden administration putting a thumb on the scale as Trump makes another run for the White House.
“Any time the DOJ gets involved, it’s entirely predictable that one political party will attempt to spin DOJ engagement as partisan and as improper electioneering, even when it’s not,” said Loyola Law School professor Justin Levitt, a former senior official who served in the department’s civil rights division during the Obama administration.
Garland is a member of President Joe Biden’s cabinet and top Justice officials are appointed by the White House. However, much of the department consists of civil servants not appointed politically. Many have served during the Trump and Biden administrations.