Over the weekend, several of the nation’s leading civil rights groups sued Donald Trump over this latest anti-voting executive order. There are now five lawsuits spanning two different courts aiming to prevent Trump’s order from going into effect. 

I filed the first lawsuit challenging this unconstitutional power grab on behalf of the Democratic Party. The moment Trump signed his executive order, I announced we would sue and that I intend to win. Within 24 hours, we were on file in federal court in Washington, D.C. 

There is a reason I am writing to you later in the day. This morning, the judge in our case recognized that “time is of the essence” to resolve our lawsuit because it involves “important matters of election procedure that may affect the conduct of impending elections throughout the country.”

The result is that our first round of substantive briefs seeking to block Trump is due on Friday. I have long days and nights ahead as we prepare to fight and win this case, like the dozens of others we are litigating. 

This is not Trump’s first executive order targeting this year’s elections. Last spring, Trump issued an executive order purporting to dictate aspects of voter registration and voting. I sued on behalf of the Democratic Party, and we won. 

But this executive order is different in critical ways. It’s bolder, more sweeping and more dangerous. It doesn’t just seek to tinker with the election process; it aims to rewrite it. And while it poses a great risk to free and fair elections, it doesn’t just threaten voting; it threatens to do something conservatives have long feared and warned against: It creates a national citizenship list. 

In the executive order’s exact words, the secretary of Homeland Security “shall take appropriate action to compile and transmit to the chief election official of each State a list of individuals confirmed to be United States citizens.” Only those on the “State Citizenship List” will receive a mail ballot. 

A “State Citizenship List” created by the federal government, using its data and its personnel, overseen by the president and his political appointees. The spectre of the federal government creating a national list of citizens should worry all of us.

While this executive order is starting with a target pointed at vote by mail, it won’t end there. Before long, only those on the State Citizenship List will be able to vote through any means. 

Even worse, with the critical list under Trump’s control, we should expect people to be removed based on his view of their eligibility — not the Constitution’s. Remember: Donald Trump got his start in politics by claiming that Barack Obama was not a United States citizen. Even when Obama produced his birth certificate, Trump quickly excused it as a fraud. 

He is currently asking the Supreme Court to do away with birthright citizenship entirely. In its place, he wants a test that he created out of thin air and put in an executive order.

If Trump has no qualms about publicly and prominently lying about a presidential candidate’s citizenship status, he certainly won’t have any qualms about striking people off his national citizenship list just because he doesn’t want them to vote. 

As many civil libertarians worry, though this is starting with voting, it will not end there. The Trump administration will hand over this list to other departments, and they will weaponize this information — from education to labor to immigration. 

The Department of Education could use a citizenship list to determine who is eligible for a federal scholarship. The Department of Labor could use it to block people from receiving federal jobs. ICE could use this information to execute deportations. 

Donald Trump has understood the power of creating a citizen list and determining who can vote for some time. Back in 2017, his discredited voter fraud commission tried and failed to obtain this data from states. 

Last year, Trump took a new approach — having his Department of Justice demand voter rolls from all 50 states plus the District of Columbia. When states refused, they were sued.

My law firm is suing to protect voter rolls in 31 states plus Washington, D.C. Just as we are fighting to stop Trump’s executive order, we are fighting to prevent the administration from securing your data. We cannot let them have access to our personal, private information. It is simply too dangerous — for voting, for our safety and for our democracy. 

Donald Trump knows that I will not back down, and I will not be intimidated. When he signed his unconstitutional executive order, he said, “They’ll probably challenge it,” and he was right. We didn’t hesitate to challenge his order, and we won’t hesitate to challenge everything else he throws our way. 

This is the fight of our lifetime, and we can’t afford to sit out a single round.