A federal judge tore apart Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s legal case for seizing voter data Thursday, calling his reading of the law “strange and unharmonious.”
U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss, an Obama appointee who once ran the Justice Department’s own legal office, dismissed Blanche’s lawsuit against the D.C. Board of Elections.
Blanche had sued the board after it refused to hand over unredacted voter registration records — including partial Social Security and driver’s license numbers — for more than 400,000 registered voters.
The judge went out of his way to call out Blanche by name after former Attorney General Pam Bondi, who launched the campaign, was fired before the case was decided.
Moss ruled that Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 — the law Blanche invoked to demand the data — only covers documents that election officials receive from voters, such as registration applications, not lists the officials themselves create.
“Nothing in the text of Title III compels this strange and unharmonious reading of federal election law,” Moss wrote in the ruling.
The judge also admonished Blanche’s attempt to bypass standard court rules by treating the suit as a fast-track proceeding that required no real legal scrutiny.
“The government is not entitled to a judicial order rubber stamping its records request,” Moss noted.
Moss rejected Blanche’s claim that Title III gave the Justice Department a “freewheeling source of authority” to investigate any violation of federal election law.
The judge found a deeper problem with the government’s legal theory. Under Blanche’s reading of the law, state election officials could face criminal penalties simply for updating voter rolls — routine maintenance that federal law actually requires them to do.
“And, paradoxically, it would subject officials to liability for taking the steps mandated by the [National Voter Registration Act] and [Help America Vote Act] — the very statutes the government has asserted an interest in enforcing,” Moss wrote.
When Blanche’s team called the distinction between voter registration applications and voter registration lists “pedantic,” Moss was unmoved.
“In light of this history, the Department’s characterization of Title III’s distinction between voter registration records and voter registration lists as ‘pedantic’ … falls flat,” the judge wrote.
Moss also noted a “conspicuous absence” of any provision in federal election law giving Blanche special access to state voter rolls, saying it was “difficult to discern the basis for the Department’s assertion” that Congress intended him to have it.
The ruling is Blanche’s 21st straight loss in President Donald Trump’s nationwide voter data campaign, which began in May 2025. The Justice Department has now brought at least 30 suits demanding unredacted voter rolls from states and Washington, D.C., according to Democracy Docket.
Moss noted that 20 other district courts and the Sixth Circuit had already ruled against the government, leaving his court “with no shortage of guidance on these issues.”
The losing streak comes as Blanche fights for his confirmation as permanent attorney general. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) announced Tuesday she will vote against him, meaning he can afford to lose just one more Republican vote and still be confirmed.
“The Department of Justice has become increasingly political,” Collins said. “Mr. Blanche has taken several actions that have further eroded the department’s independence.”
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