A U.S. District Count judge on Monday denied a privacy rights group's motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to stop the collection of state voter roll information on the part of the U.S. Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the plaintiff EPIC, or the Electronic Privacy Information Center, could not invoke the U.S. Administrative Procedure Act to seek judicial review of the Commission's voter data collection effort, because the APA applies only to official U.S. agencies. The Commission is an advisory body, not an agency.
"Under the binding precedent of this circuit, entities in close proximity to the President, which do not wield 'substantial independent authority,' are not 'agencies' for purposes of the APA," Kollar-Kotelly wrote in her ruling. "On this basis, neither the Commission or the Director of White House Information Technology – who is currently charged with collecting voter roll information on behalf of the Commission – are 'agencies' for purposes of the APA, meaning the Court cannot presently exert judicial review over the collection process."
Kollar-Kotelly also ruled that EPIC did not make its case that it suffered an irreparable informational injury at the hands of the Commission.
