Full Breakdown
Federal Judge Blocks DOJ Voter-Roll Policy Ahead of Midterms
By Drooid · · How we work
Core Event: Ruling Declares DOJ Voter-Roll Practice Unlawful
On October 9, U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan issued a 78-page decision finding that the Justice Department’s policy of obtaining states’ unredacted voter rolls and cross-checking them with the federal immigration database known as SAVE was unlawful. The ruling, brought by the watchdog group Common Cause, held that the policy exceeded the Department’s authority and risked disenfranchising eligible U.S. citizens.
Background & Context
President Donald Trump directed the Justice Department in 2025 to intensify investigations of non-citizen voting, issuing an executive order on election integrity. The Department then demanded voter-roll data from nearly all 50 states, including names, birth dates, addresses, and partial Social Security numbers. Eighteen states—most of them Republican-led—complied.
Judge Sooknanan had previously, in June, blocked an expanded version of the SAVE database that the Trump administration sought to use for voter-roll accuracy. The U.S. Supreme Court later issued a temporary pause of that earlier order.
Data & Statistics
- 18 states supplied full, unredacted voter-roll files.
- The DOJ sued 30 states and the District of Columbia that refused to provide the data.
- The Department has lost 26 of those lawsuits and has not won any.
- The SAVE database contains citizenship information from the Social Security Administration, which can be outdated, potentially flagging naturalized citizens as non-citizens.
Official Statements & Responses
- A Justice Department spokesperson said the agency is reviewing the decision.
Verbatim Quotes
- “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, US district judge
- “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, US district judge
- “Behind all the window dressing, the challenged policy represents the federal government’s attempt to decide who gets to vote,” — Sparkle Sooknanan, US district judge
- “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, the president and CEO of Common Cause
What’s Next
The ruling arrives weeks before the November 3 midterm elections, a date scheduled for congressional contests. Federal election law bars systematic voter-roll reviews within 90 days of a federal election, which may limit the practical impact of the decision. The Supreme Court’s temporary pause of the earlier June order remains in effect, leaving the DOJ’s broader strategy uncertain.