Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, vice-chair of the Trump administration’s bogus “Election Integrity Commission,” had his own integrity called into question by a federal judge on Tuesday. U.S. District Court Judge Julie Robinson upheld a $1,000 fine imposed on Kobach in June by a federal magistrate judge for “deceptive conduct and lack of candor” in a voting rights case.
The case was brought by the ACLU, which is challenging voting restrictions Kobach wants to implement in Kansas. TPM explained:
As part of its lawsuit challenging the requirement, the ACLU asked the court to sanction Kobach for how he handled the group’s request to view documents believed to be proposals to amend the National Voter Registration Act, including a proposal he was photographed holding while meeting with Trump back in December. The ACLU’s legal challenge against his proof-of-citizenship requirement claims it to be in violation of the NVRA, making the documents potentially relevant to the case.
The ACLU asked the court to sanction Kobach for what the court called his “patently misleading representations.” The judge who imposed the fine wrote at the time that Kobach’s statements “can be construed as wordplay meant to present a materially inaccurate picture of the documents.”
Judge Robinson also upheld the earlier judge’s requirement that Kobach give a deposition about his proposals to the ACLU.
“Robinson cites three earlier instances where Kobach mischaracterized the record or exhibits,” reports Associated Press. “She says sanctions are necessary to deter him from misleading the court in the future.”
Cross-posted from People For the American Way.
