A federal judge on Thursday rejected the Justice Department’s attempt to obtain California’s voter rolls, delivering a setback to President Donald Trump’s administration as it seeks to gather private information on millions of voters.
The Justice Department last year took the unusual step of asking states to provide copies of their lists of voters, which include names, addresses, partial Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers and other information. Most states resisted, and the administration filed separate lawsuits against 23 states and Washington, D.C.
The judge in the California case, David O. Carter, is the first to issue a ruling, and his decision could influence courts in other states. He found the administration had no authority to use federal civil rights and voting laws to gain the voter lists.
The administration is attempting to “amass and retain an unprecedented amount of confidential voter data” covering 23 million people, according to Carter, who was appointed to the bench in the Central District of California by President Bill Clinton.
“The centralization of this information by the federal government would have a chilling effect on voter registration which would inevitably lead to decreasing voter turnout as voters fear that their information is being used for some inappropriate or unlawful purpose,” Carter wrote. “This risk threatens the right to vote which is the cornerstone of American democracy,” the judge added.
Carter spent much of his 33-page decision harking back to the long fight for voting rights and warning that democracy faces threats that can chip away at it “until there is nothing left.”
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment or say whether it planned to appeal. The department has said 10 states have provided their complete voter lists or agreed to do so, while others fend off the effort.
“This decision serves as a vindication of what states have been arguing for months: There is no legal basis for the federal government’s sweeping demands for voters’ most sensitive information,” said Dax Goldstein, the election protection director at the States United Democracy Center.
The decision came a day after a federal judge in Oregon said he had a “tentative” plan to rule against the administration in its request to get the voter rolls in that state. He said he would issue a binding ruling soon.
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