PHOENIX — A federal court on Tuesday threw out a Justice Department legal action against Arizona that sought to compel the state to hand over comprehensive voter registration records, marking another courtroom defeat for federal officials in their nationwide push to access voter information.
U.S. District Judge Susan Brnovich, who was appointed during the Trump presidency, determined that Arizona’s comprehensive voter registration database does not fall under materials that federal law allows the Attorney General to demand. The judge ruled against the lawsuit permanently, stating that any modifications to the case would serve no legal purpose.
This Arizona decision continues a pattern of judicial rejections facing the Justice Department in comparable litigation across multiple states. Federal prosecutors have initiated legal action against no fewer than 30 states plus Washington D.C., attempting to compel the release of comprehensive voter information that encompasses birth dates, home addresses, driver’s license identification numbers, and portions of Social Security numbers.
Beyond Arizona, courts have turned down these federal efforts in Rhode Island, California, Massachusetts, Michigan and Oregon. In Georgia, a judge threw out a Justice Department case due to improper venue selection, forcing federal attorneys to restart their case in a different jurisdiction.
The Justice Department initiated legal proceedings against Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes in January after he refused to comply with federal demands for the comprehensive voter data.
“This moment is a win for voter privacy,” Fontes said in a statement. “I will never comply with illegal requests that put Arizona voters in harms way.”
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to research by the Brennan Center and Associated Press coverage, no fewer than 13 states have either delivered or agreed to deliver their comprehensive voter registration databases to federal authorities: Alaska, Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming.
Federal authorities claim they require the voter information to verify that states are following federal election regulations concerning voter registration list maintenance. During the Rhode Island litigation, a Justice Department lawyer admitted the department wanted complete voter roll data to share with the Department of Homeland Security for citizenship verification purposes.
Officials from both major political parties have opposed these federal demands, arguing such requests breach state and federal privacy protections.
