Tabella notes below that United States District Court Judge Eric Melgren has ordered the EAC to immediately issue a federal registration form in the format sought by Kansas. It allows Kansas to verify citizenship of registrants.
The federal government had brazenly defied Melgren’s earlier order and refused to issue the new form, instead filing a motion for stay of Melgren’s order.
The attorney who filed the motion for the stay was the same attorney who was spanked by Judge Melgren’s first order ruling in favor of Kansas and Arizona – Bradley Heard.
Heard is the same DOJ lawyer who on his Twitter account called himself a “Voting Rights Gladiator” and “outside agitator.” He also tweeted out on his personal Twitter account his own mental impressions about arguments he made while representing the United States of America in a hearing before Judge Melgren.
Heard is also the same lawyer who embarrassed the Justice Department by wasting taxpayer dollars by filing a brief complaining about the font size of a brief submitted by South Carolina. Heard is the same lawyer who was accused by his former law partners of misconduct, after which Heard tried to have his ex-partners arrested.
Soon after I wrote about these inappropriate and potentially unethical public communications by Heard on his Twitter account, Deputy Attorney General James Cole issued a memo to DOJ lawyers about inappropriate use of Twitter and other social media. The Cole memo describes unprofessional and undesirable behavior which precisely matches the behavior of Heard.
Heard is still employed by the Department of Justice Voting Section. His Twitter profile still refers to himself as a “Voting Rights Gladiator,” even though Heard is prohibited from involvement in any private matters involving the Voting Rights Act outside of his employment with the Justice Department. In other words, his status as a self-professed “Gladiator” must necessarily relate to his employment at the Voting Section of the Justice Department.
It is unclear if a Voting Rights Gladiator has the same duties and responsibilities as a Deputy Chief, or more similar to a Special Litigation Counsel.