Department of Homeland Security v. League of Women Voters · ¶41

For starters, the majority misreads the statutory text. Subsections 1373(a) and (b) bar “government entit[ies] or official[s]” (in §1373(a)) and “person[s] or agenc[ies]” (in §1373(b)) from “prohibit[ing], or in any way restrict[ing],” the exchange of citizenship information with DHS, “notwithstanding any other provision” of law. These provisions do not affirmatively grant any power. Nor do they override any explicit statutory limits on information-sharing. Rather, both provisions bar government entities or employees from interfering with otherwise lawful exchanges of citizenship information, notwithstanding that such interference may be permitted under some other law. When a law imposes an express restriction on disclosure, it is that law— not an “entity,” “official,” “person,” or “agency”—that is doing the “prohibit[ing]” or “restrict[ing].” Neither §1373(a) nor (b) has anything to…

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