Georgia

Top Private Law Firms Plan ‘SWAT Teams' to Fight Voting Restrictions in Court

The effort involves 16 firms as the legal community joins corporate American in criticizing GOP-led restrictions

Demonstrators hold a sit-in inside of the Capitol building in opposition of House Bill 531 on March 8, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. HB531 will restrict early voting hours, remove drop boxes, and require the use of a government ID when voting by mail.
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More than a dozen of the country's top law firms have committed to join forces to challenge voting restrictions across the country NBC News reports, adding legal might to the corporate pressure campaign opposing Republican-led attempts to overhaul elections in the wake of former President Donald Trump's loss.

One of the effort's leaders, Brad Karp, chairman of the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison of New York, said Monday that 16 firms had signed on so far, including his. The lawyers will act like "SWAT teams" for legal action, he said. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a Yale School of Management professor who is working to help mobilize corporate America against the restrictions, described the legal coalition as an "army of election law experts ready to dispatch at a moment's notice."

The group came together from conversations among major law firms about publicly taking a stand against restrictive voting laws like the one enacted in Georgia last month, as well as bills under consideration in Texas, Arizona, Florida and other states.

"I believe it is critically important for the private bar, first, to send a powerful, unified message to government officials that it is unacceptable to make voting harder, not easier, for all eligible voters," Karp said. "Supporting the right of all eligible voters to cast ballots for candidates of their choosing is central to our democracy and should be embraced by all Americans, regardless of their political affiliation."

Read the full story at NBCNews.com

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