Federal judge: DOJ cannot request states’ voter lists for eligibility database
The ruling bars the Justice Department from sharing voter files with immigration agencies and says the program could wrongly strip eligible voters.
- On Friday, October 9, U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan vacated the Department of Justice's nationwide Voter List Maintenance Policy, ruling the agency exceeded statutory authority and violated federal privacy laws by seeking state voter rolls.
- Following President Donald Trump's March 2025 executive order directing federal election enforcement, the DOJ demanded unredacted voter rolls from 49 states and Washington, D.C., seeking to cross-check records against the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database.
- Judge Sooknanan cited a 2006 Social Security Administration audit finding that approximately 3.3 million U.S. citizens were misidentified as noncitizens, concluding the policy risked wrongfully disenfranchising eligible voters despite known database inaccuracies.
- The ruling invalidates the program nationwide, barring the DOJ from sharing obtained voter files with other agencies. Common Cause President Virginia Kase Solomón called it "a victory for voters and yet another loss for the Department of Justice."
- Federal law bars systematic voter roll purges within 90 days of a federal election, potentially limiting the ruling's practical effect before the November 3 midterms. Legal battles over federal authority in election administration are expected to continue beyond the election.
98 Articles
98 Articles
Trump pressed states for info on millions of voters in the midterms. It's mostly failed. • Rhode Island Current
Three weeks before Election Day, the Trump administration’s sprawling project to send sensitive personal information on millions of voters to the Department of Homeland Security has been declared illegal by a federal judge. The blistering court decision comes after the Department of Justice pressured or sued states for their voters’ information and then, according to court […]
Trump’s voter-data collection scheme is an illegal nationwide ‘dragnet,’ judge rules
Three weeks before Election Day, the Trump administration’s sprawling project to send sensitive personal information on millions of voters to the Department of Homeland Security has been declared illegal by a federal judge. The blistering court decision comes after the Department of Justice pressured or sued states for their voters’ information and then, according to court […]
Trump pressed states for info on millions of voters in the midterms. It's mostly failed. • West Virginia Watch
Three weeks before Election Day, the Trump administration’s sprawling project to send sensitive personal information on millions of voters to the Department of Homeland Security has been declared illegal by a federal judge.
Nebraska Examiner
Trump pressed states for info on millions of voters in the midterms. It's mostly failed.
Three weeks before Election Day, the Trump administration’s sprawling project to send sensitive personal information on millions of voters to the Department of Homeland Security has been declared illegal by a federal judge. The blistering court decision comes after the Department of Justice pressured or sued states for their voters’ information and then, according to court […]
Alaska Beacon
Trump pressed states for info on millions of voters in the midterms. It’s mostly failed.
Three weeks before Election Day, the Trump administration’s sprawling project to send sensitive personal information on millions of voters to the Department of Homeland Security has been declared illegal by a federal judge. The blistering court decision comes after the Department of Justice pressured or sued states for their voters’ information and then, according to court […]
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