A federal judge blocked the Department of Justice on Friday from gathering unredacted state voter rolls to check against immigration databases, ruling the nationwide data-collection policy unlawful and a threat to voter privacy ahead of the November 2026 midterm elections.
The decision delivered by U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan halts a sweeping federal project aimed at obtaining non-public registration records from nearly every state to audit state voter rolls. In her 78-page opinion, Sooknanan found that the Trump administration perverted the historical mission of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, which was originally established under President Dwight Eisenhower to enforce civil rights protections under the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
Judge Sooknanan Blocks DOJ Voter List Review Program
The ruling strikes down the administration’s plan to compare state registration files against federal immigration records known as the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system, or SAVE. According to court filings, at least 18 states had previously complied with the DOJ’s requests by handing over sensitive information including full names, birth dates, residential addresses, and state before the court stepped in.
Sooknanan concluded that the federal government lacked statutory authority to demand the rolls or direct states to purge voters. The agreements offered to states by the Justice Department had stipulated that participating states must clean their voter rolls within 45 days of completing the federal audit according to case filings. The judge determined those demands violated the Administrative Procedure Act, the Privacy Act, and the boundaries of federal power.
“The court vacates a policy that has removed United States citizens from the voter rolls in their home states and risks disenfranchising many more – a policy that flies in the face of duly enacted laws designed to protect Americans.”
Sparkle Sooknanan, U.S. District Judge, via The Guardian
Constitutional Authority Over Elections and State Independence
The Justice Department had defended its collection campaign by pointing to the Civil Rights Act according to legal arguments reviewed by the court. Sooknanan rejected those justifications outright, writing that the agency’s interpretation turned Jim Crow-era voter protection statutes on their head.
“Behind all the window dressing, the challenged policy represents the federal government’s attempt to decide who gets to vote. But Congress has left that authority where our Constitution has always placed it: with the states.”
Sparkle Sooknanan, U.S. District Judge, via The Guardian
The ruling adds to a growing series of courtroom setbacks for the administration. Prior to this decision, federal judges in 26 states plus the 6th Circuit had dismissed or blocked similar DOJ demands for statewide voter information. In Georgia, U.S. District Judge Victoria Marie Calvert dismissed a parallel DOJ lawsuit seeking unredacted rolls under the CRA.
Common Cause and Plaintiffs React to the Federal Court Ruling
The lawsuit was filed by the watchdog group Common Cause alongside individual voters and advocacy organizations including Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the Democracy and Rule of Law Clinic at Harvard Law School represented across the litigation.
Plaintiffs testified about the personal impact of flawed data purges. Texas resident Anthony Nel described discovering he had been stripped of his active registration status despite being fully eligible as noted in case documents. Virginia Kase Solomón, president and CEO of Common Cause, welcomed the outcome.
“This is a victory for voters and yet another loss for the Department of Justice. It’s time the Trump administration stop these desperate attempts to seize voters’ private data and take control of our elections.”
Virginia Kase Solomón, Common Cause President and CEO, via CBS News