On June 23, U.S. District Court Judge Myron Thompson, a Carter appointee, refused to dismiss part of the lawsuit Greater Birmingham Ministries v Merrill, m.d., 2:22cv-205. This is the case over access to the list of voters who have been purged. The case is based on the federal voting rights act.

The state had tried to persuade the judge that the federal Voting Rights Act doesn’t apply, because the Act only talks about a “photocopy” of the list of registered voters. The state said the plaintiffs want an electronic copy, and the Act doesn’t mention electronic copies. Of course, when the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965, there was no such concept. But the judge denied the state’s request.