Judge tosses out Trump administration lawsuit seeking access to Arizona voter data

A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit from the Justice Department seeking information on Arizona voters, another defeat in the Trump administration’s nationwide push for voter data.

U.S. District Judge Susan Brnovich sided with Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, finding that Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 doesn’t grant the Justice Department the power to demand that Arizona produce its statewide voter registration list.

“This case presents a legal question: is the Attorney General entitled to the SVRL under Title III,” the Trump-nominated judge wrote. “It does not present a political question: should the Attorney General be entitled to the SVRL.”

Fontes and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes hailed the ruling, writing in a joint statement Thursday that the data sought by the Justice Department “contains the sensitive personal information of millions of Arizona voters.”

“Arizona acted correctly in refusing this request, and today’s ruling vindicates that decision,” they said. “Our offices will continue to defend the privacy of Arizona voters against federal overreach.”

CBS News has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.

The ruling marks the Justice Department’s sixth loss in lawsuits seeking state-level voter data, following similar rulings in California, Oregon, Michigan, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

The Justice Department asked Fontes to hand over Arizona’s voter registration list last summer, saying it was checking the state’s compliance with the National Voter Registration Act and Help America Vote Act. The department later clarified that it needed voters’ full names, dates of birth, home addresses and either their driver’s license numbers or partial Social Security numbers.

Fontes declined to share that data, citing state and federal privacy laws. The Justice Department then sued the state in January.

The Justice Department has sued dozens of other states and Washington, D.C., for voter data, usually citing a need to ensure that states were complying with federal laws requiring states to maintain accurate voter registration lists. A department official wrote last month that the government is looking to do an “individualized assessment” of Arizona’s voter registration data.

The federal government acknowledged in a separate lawsuit involving Rhode Island’s voter registration list that it planned to run that state’s data through a Homeland Security database to check if any noncitizens are registered to vote. CBS News reported last month on a deal between the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security to use voter registration data for immigration and criminal investigations.

Mr. Trump has sought for months to expand the federal government’s role in elections, accusing states of mismanaging the process and claiming — without evidence — that U.S. elections are riddled with fraud. He has often focused on voting by noncitizens, which is rare.

The president has pushed lawmakers to pass legislation called the SAVE America Act that would require people to show proof of citizenship to register to vote and an ID to cast a ballot. 

He also signed an executive order last year that sought to impose a proof-of-citizenship requirement, which a judge struck down. Earlier this year, Mr. Trump signed a separate order that directed his administration to draw up lists of confirmed U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote in each state, and said the U.S. Postal Service can only send absentee ballots to people on each state’s federally prepared list. Almost two dozen states are suing over the order.