A federal judge slapped Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach with a $1,000-fine Friday for misleading the court about the nature of the documents he was holding while photographed at a November meeting with President Donald Trump. The front page of the documents, widely scrutinized after the Associated Press published the photo, referenced possible changes to national voter laws. The ruling comes from the ongoing class action voting rights lawsuit Fish v. Kobach, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Kansas. The lawsuit alleges that Kansas law requiring voters to show proof of citizenship documents such as birth certificates violates the National Voter Registration Act.
Kobach, an architect of anti-immigration and voter ID laws, argues that the law seeks to reduce voter fraud. The ACLU contends that the law targets minority voters who are less likely to have such documents and more likely to vote Democrat.
Kobach fought to keep the documents out of the hands of the ACLU, stating that they contained privileged information. According to U.S. Magistrate Judge James O’Hara’s ruling, Kobach purposely misled the court about the nature of the documents.
Full Article: Kansas Secretary of State Fined for Misleading the Court.