US judge rules Justice Department use of voter rolls unlawful

Key Points:

• A US judge ruled that the Justice Department's effort to obtain state voter rolls and cross-check them against a federal immigration database to remove ineligible voters was unlawful, citing risks of wrongful disenfranchisement.
• Judge Sparkle Sooknanan emphasized that the Constitution grants states the authority over voter eligibility, not the federal government, and criticized the Justice Department's downplaying of inaccuracies in the immigration database (SAVE).
• The ruling is a setback for former President Trump's push to expand federal control over elections ahead of the November midterms, amid his claims of widespread voter fraud despite evidence to the contrary.
• The Justice Department had demanded nearly all states provide unredacted voter rolls, including sensitive personal data, and used the SAVE database to flag non-citizens, but many states resisted, leading to multiple legal defeats for the department.
• Federal law prohibits systematic voter roll reviews within 90 days of federal elections, which may limit the practical impact of this ruling and related Supreme Court actions on the upcoming midterms.