Federal Courts Block DOJ Efforts to Access Voter Data

The United States Department of Justice suffered two significant legal setbacks on November 10, 2026, as federal courts blocked administration efforts to challenge voter eligibility and ballot validity.

In Delaware, U.S. District Judge Richard Andrews denied a request for unredacted voter rolls, marking the agency's 28th consecutive loss in similar lawsuits across various states. The Department of Justice sought sensitive data, including birth dates and Social Security numbers, to prove claims of noncitizen registration. Judge Andrews ruled that the agency failed to prove the Civil Rights Act grants it access to state electronic databases and noted that the government already possesses the tools needed to verify voter eligibility.

Simultaneously, U.S. District Judge David Carter closed a case after blocking a government attempt to discount up to 20,000 California ballots suspected of being cast by noncitizens. The Department of Justice had sought to force the state to isolate these ballots for citizenship investigations. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit upheld the decision, agreeing that the lawsuit was an attempt to interfere with the electoral process.