Federal judge don throw away Department of Justice lawsuit wey dey seek New York unredacted statewide voter registration list. Dis na another blow for President Donald Trump effort to seize sensitive voter registration data.
Friday night ruling mark di department 12th straight loss for lower court for dia legal crusade to force all 50 states and District of Columbia to hand over voter rolls to federal government.
U.S. District Judge Mae D’Agostino, wey former President Barack Obama nominate, rule say New York voter roll no be record wey DOJ fit obtain through legal force.
Rejecting DOJ arguments, D’Agostino find say neither di Civil Rights Act, di National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), nor di Help America Vote Act (HAVA) authorize di department demands against di Empire State.
“For these reasons, this Court joins every district court to have addressed this issue in concluding that a voter registration list is not a record or paper that a state must produce to the Government,” di judge write.
“It has long been recognized that the Elections Clause entrusts the administration of federal elections to the States,” she add.
Trump for im first term — don rule against di department legal theories. Faced with complete shutout for district court level, di DOJ don quickly move to appeal all dia losses to higher courts.
However, so far e no find success for appeals courts either. Last month, three-judge panel for di Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirm lower court dismissal of DOJ voter roll lawsuit against Michigan.
Dat ruling mark di department first appellate loss. Seeking to erase dat loss, di DOJ dis week ask for rehearing before di full Sixth Circuit.
Di DOJ voter roll effort come as part of Trump wider effort to federalize di creation and maintenance of state voter registration rolls — and therefore control who fit and who no fit vote.
While di department don repeatedly claim e dey seek voter registration data to ensure states comply with voter roll maintenance requirements under di NVRA and HAVA, e never clearly state how e intend to verify compliance.
Internal DOJ emails indicate say di department fit intend to feed di data through Department of Homeland Security (DHS) database wey Trump officials recently revamp into new system to monitor and shape state voter registration lists.
However, federal judge recently bar DHS from using di database to remove voters from rolls.
New research from di Center for Election Innovation & Research dis week show say state voter registration lists dey accurate and up to date, strongly indicating states dey comply with di NVRA routine list maintenance procedures.
Alongside di DOJ voter roll demands to states, Trump, through executive order earlier dis year, also try to unilaterally direct DHS and di United States Postal Service (USPS) to create national voter registration lists as part of im wider effort to seize states power to run elections.
Several states and organizations don challenge Trump order, and courts don block portions of am, including im demand say USPS create and maintain national list of people wey vote by mail.
