President Donald Trump’s Justice Department got yet another humiliation on Tuesday, as their crusade to obtain sensitive identifying information about registered voters in Arizona was rejected by a judge Trump himself appointed.
According to the liberal elections news site Democracy Docket, U.S. District Judge Susan Brnovich issued an order granting Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes’ motion to dismiss the DOJ lawsuit, finding no merit to the litigation.
The DOJ was demanding that Fontes turn over Arizona’s statewide voter registration list (SVRL), including voters’ “full name, date of birth, residential address, his or her state driver’s license number or the last four digits of the registrant’s social security number,” citing the 1960 Civil Rights Act. The relevant section requires the state to preserve “all records and papers which come into his possession relating to any application, registration, payment of poll tax, or other act requisite to voting in such election.”
Reading the statutory history and text of the law, Brnovich concluded that the SVRL contains data far beyond what the 1960 Civil Rights Act requires states to preserve, and therefore the DOJ cannot order Arizona to hand it over.
“The Attorney General fails to convince this Court … that the SVRL is a § 20701 document,” concluded Brnovich. “Accordingly, the Court will dismiss the Attorney General’s claim with prejudice because amendment would be legally futile.”
The Trump administration has demanded similar voter records from every state, and while some states have complied, many, including some run by Republicans, have refused, citing state voter privacy laws. So far, all of the Trump administration’s lawsuits to try to force states to divulge the information have failed, including two others brought before Trump-appointed judges.
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