The National Lawyers Guild’s Labor and Employment Committee and International Committee submitted an amicus brief in a New Jersey voting rights case on September 29. The amicus, submitted by Ryan McCarthy and IC Co-Chair Jeanne Mirer, with the participation of Marquel Ramirez, was submitted in Trump vs. New Jersey, the suit launched by the Republican Party and the Trump campaign in an attempt to block the state’s mail-in voting law for the 2020 election.

Addressing some of the issues also raised in the NLG’s submission to the Universal Periodic Review of the UN Human Rights Council on voting rights in the United States, the brief “contend[s] that States such as New Jersey have a legal obligation to take all effective measures to ensure that all persons entitled to vote, can vote.” Specifically, the brief grounds its arguments in international human rights treaties ratified by the United States, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

“Because these Human Rights Instruments are ratified ‘treaties’ under Article VI Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, the Supremacy Clause dictates that such treaties become part of the supreme domestic law, binding on the courts,” the brief affirms, arguing that the Trump campaign’s motion should be rejected and the New Jersey election law allowing for mail-in voting upheld.

Download the brief: https://nlginternational.org/newsite/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/64-Trump-v.-NJ-Filed-NLG-Brief.pdf