Federal Judge Strikes Down Justice Department Voter Roll Policy Ahead of Midterm Elections
U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan vacated a Justice Department policy that collected state voter registration lists for citizenship checks. The decision sided with voting rights group Common Cause, finding the policy exceeded federal authority and presented significant risks to eligible voters.
In a major victory for voting rights advocates, U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan has struck down a federal Justice Department initiative that sought state voter registration records to conduct citizenship checks. The 78-page ruling issued on Oct. 9 vacated the department's Voter List Maintenance Policy, finding that federal officials overstepped their lawful authority and failed to abide by administrative and privacy safeguards, according to reporting by theGrio. The decision stemmed from a lawsuit brought by the nonpartisan advocacy group Common Cause.
Under the challenged policy, the Justice Department requested detailed voter rolls from almost every state, aiming to match personal voter information against the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database, commonly known as SAVE. Federal officials intended to identify suspected noncitizens on state voter ledgers and encourage state officials to remove those entries. According to reporting by theGrio, at least 18 states complied with federal requests by submitting unredacted voter records.
Judge Sooknanan concluded that federal agencies lacked the statutory mandate required to demand and process state voter records in this manner. In her ruling, Sooknanan emphasized that the responsibility for maintaining accurate voter registration rolls rests primarily with individual states rather than federal law enforcement agencies. She observed that the challenged policy represented an unauthorized attempt by the federal government to dictate voting eligibility across the country. The court highlighted critical flaws in relying on federal databases for voter eligibility decisions, pointing out that government officials significantly understated the error rates inherent in the SAVE system.
To illustrate the real-world impact of these inaccuracies, Sooknanan pointed to the case of Anthony Nel, a native-born U.S. citizen in Texas whose voter registration was wrongly flagged for removal following an incorrect result in the SAVE system. Sooknanan noted that other legitimate citizens faced similar administrative challenges to their fundamental right to vote. While the Trump Administration argued that checking citizenship records was necessary to guard against illegal voting by noncitizens—which remains strictly prohibited in federal elections under existing law—Sooknanan clarified that her decision does not hinder lawful federal assistance or routine state list maintenance.
She stressed that legitimate efforts by state election officials to keep lists updated can continue without violating federal standards. The ruling arrives just weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, a critical period given that federal law generally mandates systematic voter removal programs to be finalized at least 90 days prior to election day. The decision follows an earlier order by Sooknanan in June blocking expanded SAVE database use, which was temporarily paused by the U.S.
Supreme Court in September while broader legal challenges proceed. As reported by theGrio, the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment following the decision.