Key facts
- A U.S. appeals court upheld a ruling preventing the Justice Department from accessing Michigan's voter rolls.
- The court found the Civil Rights Act of 1960 does not grant the federal government the right to demand state-compiled voter rolls.
- Michigan argued that sharing the rolls would violate citizens' privacy rights and that the government had other goals.
- The Justice Department sought the rolls to determine if states were adequately removing ineligible voters.
A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld a block on the Justice Department's efforts to obtain Michigan's voter rolls, dealing a setback to the Trump administration's attempts to access personal voter information from states. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a 2-1 decision that the Civil Rights Act of 1960 does not permit the federal government to demand voter rolls compiled by states. The Justice Department had argued it needed the unredacted lists, including birth dates and driver's license numbers, to verify compliance with federal election law and identify potential anomalies. Michigan, however, contended that the government's true aims included creating a national voter file and sharing data with the Department of Homeland Security, potentially violating citizens' privacy. U.S. District Judge Hala Jarbou had previously issued a similar ruling against the Justice Department. The administration's broader effort to obtain voter rolls from numerous states has faced similar legal challenges.