AG Bondi drops Biden-era lawsuit against Georgia election integrity law

Attorney General Pam Bondi withdrew the Department of Justice's Biden-era lawsuit against Georgia's election integrity law on Monday.

The lawsuit challenged Georgia's Election Integrity Act of 2021, referred to as Senate Bill 202, which the Biden administration dubbed “Jim Crow 2.0.” Major League Baseball relocated the 2021 All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver in protest of the law.

SB 202 requires voter ID, quick reporting of election results, and strengthens absentee ballot procedures.

“Contrary to the Biden Administration’s false claims of suppression, Black voter turnout actually increased under SB 202,” Bondi said in a statement on Monday. “Georgians deserve secure elections, not fabricated claims of false voter suppression meant to divide us. Americans can be confident that this Department of Justice will protect their vote and never play politics with election integrity.”

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) responded to the DOJ's withdrawal from the case, after he had urged Bondi to do so last month, saying, "This reaffirms that the Election Integrity Act stands on solid legal ground. Our commitment has always been to ensure fair and secure elections for every Georgian, despite losing an All-Star game and the left’s boycott of Georgia as a result of commonsense election law."​

Raffensperger has also pressed the DOJ to follow a federal judge's order, which requires to release of documents regarding the Biden DOJ's coordination with advocacy groups for the lawsuit. The order came after the DOJ documents were requested under the Freedom of Information Act, but Raffensperger's office has not yet received them.

"Transparency is paramount in upholding public trust," Raffensperger said in a statement on Monday. "We call upon the DOJ to release these documents promptly, per court order, so we can better understand why this suit was brought in the first place."​