Nine GOP attorneys general sue Biden admin over 'Bidenbucks'

Nine Republican attorneys general have filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration over "Bidenbucks," an executive order directing federal agencies to promote voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts, arguing that it "violates the Constitution."

On Tuesday, Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen led eight other states in suing the Biden administration in federal court in Kansas. The states involved in the lawsuit with Montana are Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and South Dakota.

The attorneys general argue in the lawsuit that through President Biden's Executive Order 14019 from March 2021, he "has sought to convert the federal bureaucracy into a voter registration organization and to turn every interaction between a federal bureaucrat and a member of the public into a voter registration pitch. That exceeds any authority executive entities have under federal law, violates the Constitution, threatens States’ attempt to regulate voter registration, and thus ultimately undermines the voter registration systems set up by the States."

Critics often refer to the executive order as “Bidenbucks,” which alludes to "Zuckerbucks," the approximately $400 million from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg widely alleged to have been funneled through left-leaning nonprofits to turn out the Democratic vote in the 2020 presidential election.

"The head of each agency shall evaluate ways in which the agency can, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, promote voter registration and voter participation,” including "soliciting and facilitating approved, nonpartisan third-party organizations and State officials to provide voter registration services on agency premises," the executive order states.

“Fair elections are an essential part of our country’s Republic. Congress gave the states the power to oversee elections years ago,” Knudsen said in a statement Tuesday. “I will not stand by while the Biden-Harris administration attempts to shamelessly garner votes by employing its own agencies to register voters and disregard states own voter registration systems, putting the integrity of our elections at risk.”