DOJ now 0-9 in voter roll cases after Trump-appointed judge tosses its Maryland demand
Source: Democracy Docket
A federal judge threw out the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit seeking Maryland’s statewide, unredacted voter registration list, dealing another blow to President Donald Trump and the department’s sweeping campaign to obtain voter data from the states.
The dismissal brings the DOJ’s record to 0-9 out of the 31 lawsuits it brought against states and Washington, D.C.
U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, whom Trump appointed in his first term, ruled Thursday that the state’s voter roll was not a record the DOJ could obtain through legal force under the Civil Rights Act (CRA).
“This Court joins every court to have addressed this issue in concluding that an [statewide voter registration list] is not a record or paper that a state must produce to the United States under the CRA,” Gallagher wrote.
Because the CRA doesn’t allow the DOJ to obtain state voter rolls, the judge dismissed the lawsuit for failing to state a claim. She also dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning the department is legally barred from bringing its specific CRA claim back to the court....
So far, no federal court has ruled in favor of the DOJ in the voter roll lawsuits. The now nine dismissals came from judges spanning the ideological spectrum: Five judges were appointed or renominated by Trump and four other judges were appointed by Democratic presidents.
Read more: https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/judge-tosses-justice-department-maryland-voter-roll-lawsuit-0-9/
DOJ now 0-9 in voter roll cases after Trump-appointed judge tosses its Maryland demand www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
— Jacob Knutson (@jaknutson.bsky.social) 2026-06-22T18:14:13.776Z