A Trump-appointed federal judge dismissed the Justice Department’s lawsuit seeking voter rolls from Arizona, marking the administration’s latest loss in court over requests for state-level voter data.
U.S. District Judge Susan Brnovich issued an order on Tuesday to dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning the same lawsuit is prevented from being refiled. The ruling handed a win to Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, who filed a motion to dismiss the suit.
In the 13-page order, Judge Brnovich found that the DOJ isn’t entitled to demand Arizona produce its statewide voter registration list under Title III of the Civil Rights Act.
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“This case presents a legal question: is the Attorney General entitled to the SVRL under Title III,” she wrote. “It does not present a political question: should the Attorney General be entitled to the SVRL.”
The judge noted the latter question is “reserved for the legislative and executive branches” while the court must consider the legal question in context of the “relevant text” in Article 3.
After Fontes refused to comply with the DOJ’s request for voter information, the department accused the state official of violating Title III and filed litigation to compel the handover of such data.
Fontes and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, both Democrats, celebrated Tuesday’s ruling as a rightful win against the Trump administration. They said the court was “clear” in its conclusion that Title III did not authorize the DOJ’s demand of “sensitive personal information of millions of Arizona voters,” including home addresses and Social Security numbers.
“Arizona acted correctly in refusing this request, and today’s ruling vindicates that decision,” Mayes and Fontes said in a joint statement. “Our offices will continue to defend the privacy of Arizona voters against federal overreach.”
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The Washington Examiner contacted the DOJ for comment.
The court order is the sixth ruling that has struck down federal lawsuits seeking voter data. Similar rulings were issued in California, Oregon, Michigan, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.