{"id":12350,"date":"2026-04-29T08:18:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T08:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/04\/29\/in-major-blow-to-trump-doj-court-rejects-demand-for-arizonas-voter-rolls-democracy-docket\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T08:18:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T08:18:17","slug":"in-major-blow-to-trump-doj-court-rejects-demand-for-arizonas-voter-rolls-democracy-docket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/04\/29\/in-major-blow-to-trump-doj-court-rejects-demand-for-arizonas-voter-rolls-democracy-docket\/","title":{"rendered":"In major blow to Trump DOJ, court rejects demand for Arizona\u2019s voter rolls – Democracy Docket"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\t\t\t\tArizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes is proposing an alternative to CISA’s recently cut EI-ISAC program. (AP Photo\/Ross D. Franklin)\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/div>\n
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A federal judge Tuesday dismissed<\/a> the Department of Justice\u2019s lawsuit seeking Arizona\u2019s unredacted voter rolls, ruling the department has no legal right to obtain the records it has demanded from states nationwide.<\/p>\n

The decision means DOJ is now zero out of six in its lawsuits aiming to obtain states\u2019 voter rolls. And it marks one of the most significant defeats yet \u2014 rejecting not just how the department made its demands, but its authority to make the demands at all.<\/p>\n

The case centers on DOJ\u2019s attempt to force Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) to turn over the state\u2019s full voter registration list, which includes sensitive personal information such as birthdates, addresses, driver\u2019s license and partial Social Security numbers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fontes refused<\/a>, citing privacy protections under state and federal law.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis moment is a win for voter privacy. I will never comply with illegal requests that put Arizona voters in harms way,\u201d Fontes said in a statement following Tuesday\u2019s ruling. \u201cI was charged with protecting the personal identifying information of every Arizona voter and will not waver in the face of threats. I want to thank my legal team and Attorney General Mayes and her staff for stepping up and winning this moment for Arizona voters.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a sharply reasoned opinion, district judge Susan Brnovich, appointed by President Donald Trump, sided<\/a> with Arizona and dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled.<\/p>\n

DOJ claimed it was entitled to Arizona\u2019s statewide voter registration lists (SVRL) under the Civil Rights Act of 1960. The court concluded it is not.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Court will dismiss the Attorney General\u2019s claim with prejudice because amendment would be legally futile,\u201d Brnovich wrote. \u201cArizona\u2019s SVRL is not a document subject to request by the Attorney General.\u201d<\/p>\n

That finding strikes at the core of the DOJ\u2019s legal theory, which relies on a provision of the law requiring states to preserve and provide certain election-related records upon request.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The judge found that provision applies only to documents submitted by voters \u2014 such as registration forms \u2014 not statewide databases created and maintained by election officials.<\/p>\n

The court also warned that adopting the DOJ\u2019s interpretation would create conflicts with other federal election laws, including the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act, both of which require states to regularly update and maintain voter rolls.<\/p>\n

The ruling builds on a growing string of losses for the DOJ, which has sued dozens of states that refused to provide voter data.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Courts in California, Oregon, Michigan, Massachusetts and Rhode Island have already dismissed<\/a> similar cases, often focusing on procedural flaws in the department\u2019s demands.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Arizona decision goes further, effectively foreclosing DOJ\u2019s ability to obtain statewide voter rolls under the statute it has been relying on.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes is proposing an alternative to CISA’s recently cut EI-ISAC program. (AP Photo\/Ross D. Franklin) A federal judge Tuesday dismissed the Department of Justice\u2019s lawsuit seeking Arizona\u2019s unredacted voter rolls, ruling the department has no legal right to obtain the records it has demanded from states nationwide. The decision means […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12351,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}