Federal Judge Vacates DOJ Voter Roll Collection Policy
Judge Sparkle Sooknanan ruled that the Department of Justice unlawfully collected unredacted state voter rolls to cross-reference them with federal immigration databases.
Federal Judge Sparkle Sooknanan ruled on Friday that the United States Department of Justice acted unlawfully by collecting unredacted state voter rolls to cross-reference them with a federal immigration database. The policy was originally adopted to comply with an election integrity executive order issued by Donald Trump.
Sooknanan vacated the policy, determining that the measure violated privacy laws and risked disenfranchising citizens. The judge found that the federal government lacked the authority to enact the policy because Congress granted states the power to maintain their own voter rolls. Sooknanan noted that the policy represented an attempt by the federal government to decide who gets to vote and flew in the face of laws designed to protect Americans.
The ruling does not prevent the federal government from taking lawful steps to support states, nor does it stop states from maintaining their own rolls. This decision follows a June ruling by Sooknanan that limited the administration's ability to create a database of Americans' information, a previous decision that the Supreme Court of the United States had temporarily set aside.
