The Department of Justice is bringing a lawsuit against Hazleton, PA because it said its city council is not Hispanic enough.
The lawsuit said not enough “Hispanic-preferred candidates” are winning, but did not define what a Hispanic preferred candidate is,” The Daily Caller reported.
“The DOJ sued the majority-Hispanic town Tuesday over its at-large election system in which voters across Hazelton vote to elect each district’s city council member, alleging it does not give Hispanics a fair chance at participation and violates a section of the Voting Rights Act that bans restricting voters based on race. The complaint fails to prove illegal discrimination and appears ‘meritless’ on its face, legal experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation,” the report said.
“What the complaint fails entirely to address is that Hispanic candidates are losing races not because of their race, but due to politics — if they run as Democrats, they are going to lose,” senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, Hans von Spakovsky, a former counsel for the Department of Justice, said to the DCNF.
“In the 2023 election for the city’s mayor, the incumbent Republican, Jeff Cusat, won in a landslide with 61% of the vote,” he said. “The Democratic Hispanic who ran against him, Vianney Castro, received only 28% of the vote.”
The city voted for former Democrat presidential nominee and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016, but voted for President-elect Donald Trump by 55 percent in 2020 and by 62 percent in 2024.
“The 10-page lawsuit alleges societal discrimination has kept ‘Hispanic-preferred candidates’ from winning a single Hazleton city council seat. The DOJ did not define ‘Hispanic-preferred candidate’ in its lawsuit. The complaint also used the term ‘Hispanic-preferred Hispanic candidate,’” the report said.
The lawsuit said that “discrimination in education, employment, housing, and policing” and “disparities” between white and Hispanic residents are the reason that the city’s at-large election system is not Constitutional.
It admitted that there was “low turnout among Hispanic voters” but said that it was because of “obstacles to political participation.”
“Quite frankly, I don’t trust the narrative put forward by the Justice Department because I don’t trust the credibility of the lawyers inside the Civil Rights Division, where I used to work,” von Spakovsky said to the DCNF.
“There is also no evidence that Hispanics have suffered discrimination as required to validate a claim under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act,” he said.
“The fact that it has been filed at the last minute in the final stages of the Biden administration also makes me suspicious that it is a meritless lawsuit,” he said.
The lawsuit alleged that threats played a role in keeping some Hispanic candidates off the ballot.
“At least one Hispanic candidate received threatening phone calls during the campaign, some of which included people yelling obscenities,” it said. “The candidate believed the calls were tied to anti-Hispanic sentiment.”
“The Voting Rights Act is an important tool to ensure that underrepresented citizens have an equal opportunity to choose their elected officials,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said “The Justice Department is committed to ensuring that all citizens have an equal opportunity to participate in the democratic process and elect candidates of choice. We look forward to working with officials to achieve a more perfect union by bringing Hazleton, Pennsylvania, into compliance with the Voting Rights Act.”
“The Hispanic population is a growing and important population in the City of Hazleton, and those citizens should have the ability to choose candidates that represent their interests,” U.S. Attorney Gerard M. Karam for the Middle District of Pennsylvania said. “This complaint demonstrates my office’s commitment to partner with the Justice Department to enforce civil rights statutes like the Voting Rights Act.”
Cusat and City Council President Jim Perry responded to the accusations last week.
“The City has been working with the DOJ in good faith for the last several weeks to address their concerns, however, it appears that suit was hurriedly filed this past Tuesday night before any meaningful discussions could take place,” the pair said.
“The current at-large system in the City of Hazleton gives equal voting rights to all citizens regardless of their race or gender,” they said.
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