KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ A federal magistrate judge on Wednesday ordered Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to hand over documents that he brought to a meeting with President Donald Trump outlining a strategic plan for the Department of Homeland Security.
He's been ordered to turn over those papers for a camera review by 5 p.m. Thursday by federal magistrate Judge James O'Hara in Kansas City, Kan., as part of a pending lawsuit seeking to overturn a Kansas law that requires voters to provide proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate or passport, when they register to vote.
The Homeland Security documents contained a reference to voting rolls that was partially obscured by Kobach's hand in the photograph.
Kobach's office did not immediately comment on the order.
Kobach has refused requests from plaintiffs' attorneys to provide the documents as part of the lawsuit's discovery process on the grounds that they fall beyond the scope of the case, according to court documents.
However, O'Hara said in his order that if the documents show Kobach lobbied to change federal voting law this information would bear on whether he can demonstrate that the proof of citizenship requirement is the "least burdensome method of preventing substantial numbers of noncitizens from registering to vote" under the current legal standard. The camera review will determine their relevancy to the case.
Kobach has also been ordered to provide the court with a draft amendment to the National Voter Registration Act, which plaintiffs' attorneys contend that he has crafted.
Kobach has served as an informal adviser to Trump on election law and has previously said that he has advised the president to investigate the issue of voter fraud. In the wake of the election, Trump repeatedly made unsupported claims that millions of people voted illegally and tipped the popular vote in Democrat Hillary Clinton's favor.
