Overview
- U.S. District Judge Colleen R. Lawless dismissed the DOJ’s case with prejudice on Friday, denying a motion to compel Illinois to hand over an unredacted statewide voter registration database.
- Lawless held that Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 does not authorize the attorney general to seize a voter list created and maintained by a state, and she found the DOJ failed to state the specific basis and legitimate purpose required by courts.
- Illinois had already given the DOJ a redacted voter list; the department sued seeking more sensitive identifiers such as dates of birth, driver’s license numbers and Social Security numbers that state law limits sharing of.
- The ruling is the 19th district-court loss for the Trump administration’s DOJ in similar suits nationwide, extending a pattern of rejections that DOJ can still challenge on appeal.
- State officials and civil-rights groups said the decision protects voter privacy and state election authority, while the case’s next likely step—appeal—could determine whether appellate courts accept the narrower reading of federal investigatory power.