DOJ Appeals After Judge Barred Access to Arizona Voter Database

The appeal moves a test of the Justice Department’s claim of sweeping authority under a 1960 election law to the Ninth Circuit where judges must weigh that theory against state privacy protections.

Overview

The Justice Department filed a notice of appeal on Wednesday asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review U.S. District Judge Susan Brnovich’s April dismissal with prejudice of the suit seeking Arizona’s unredacted statewide voter registration list.
Judge Brnovich found the Civil Rights Act of 1960 does not require Arizona to produce its statewide voter database and sided with state officials who said the list is distinct from retained voter application records covered by federal law.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes called the appeal legally futile and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said the state will defend the district court victory on appeal.
DOJ’s push rests on a broad reading of the 1960 law and a recent Office of Legal Counsel view that it may compel and share state rolls with other agencies, a position that raises privacy concerns because the files include home addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.
Multiple other federal judges in states including Michigan, California and Rhode Island have rejected similar DOJ demands, leaving a patchwork of rulings and making the Ninth Circuit appeal a likely turning point for whether the federal government can force states to hand over full voter rolls.