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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Rachel Leingang

‘It has to be done’: can Reconstruction-era laws hold Trump and allies accountable?

A violent crowd with flags and tear gas throughout.
Protesters wave Confederate and Trump flags as they storm the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. Photograph: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

In attempts to hold the former president Donald Trump and his allies accountable for election subversion, attorneys are reaching back to laws created in the wake of the civil war in the 1860s.

Beyond Trump, too, lawsuits using these Reconstruction-era laws seek to enforce voting rights and prevent discrimination in modern-era elections.

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