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Preliminary Injunction – Abuse of Discretion

By: Derek Hawkins//September 23, 2019//

Preliminary Injunction – Abuse of Discretion

By: Derek Hawkins//September 23, 2019//

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7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Common Cause Indiana, et al. v. Connie Lawson, et al.

Case No.: 18-2491; 18-2492

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and BRENNAN and ST. EVE, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Preliminary Injunction – Abuse of Discretion

Voting is at once an intensely personal act and a choice to participate in the collective process of representative democracy. It cannot take place, however, without an elaborate administrative infrastructure. This case concerns that machinery—in particular, the process that Indiana wants to use to cleanse its voter rolls of people it suspects no longer qualify to vote there. Senate Enrolled Act 442 (“Act 442”), which was passed in 2017 and codified at Indiana Code § 3-7- 38.2-5(d)–(e), adopted an aggressive new strategy for this purpose, allowing Indiana immediately to remove a voter based on information received from a third-party database rather than in response to direct contact with the voter. Several organizations promptly challenged Act 442 in court, asserting in two separate actions that it violates the National Voter Registration Act. They sought a preliminary injunction against the implementation of the new law while both cases proceeded. Finding that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits and that they would suffer irreparable injury if the law were to take effect immediately, the district court issued preliminary injunctions “prohibiting the Defendants from taking any actions to implement [Act 442]” until the cases are concluded.

The state appealed the injunctions to this court, see 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1), and we consolidated the two cases for decision. We conclude that the plaintiff organizations in each case adequately demonstrated their standing to bring these actions and that the district court did not abuse its discretion by granting preliminary relief. We therefore affirm.

Affirmed

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Derek A Hawkins is trademark corporate counsel for Harley-Davidson. Hawkins oversees the prosecution and maintenance of the Harley-Davidson’s international trademark portfolio in emerging markets.

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