A federal judge ruled Friday that the Justice Department broke federal law by collecting state voter rolls. The department used them to search for noncitizen voters.
78-page opinion vacated the department's voter list maintenance policy nationwide.
At least 18 states gave the department unredacted voter rolls.
26 of the department's lawsuits against states seeking voter data were dismissed.
2 eligible Texas voters lost their registrations after database checks.
Why it matters: Sooknanan found Congress left voter roll maintenance to the states, not the federal government. She wrote the policy was the government's "attempt to decide who gets to vote."
She said the SAVE database may hold outdated records that misidentify naturalized citizens.
The ruling also blocks use of data from states that joined voluntarily.
The story so far
4 steps · since Oct 9
US Judge Blocks DOJ Voter Roll Probes as UnlawfulYou are here
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Political Bias
Coverage by lean% of 18 sources
18 sources · 21 articles · 34% Left coverage
Where they split: Coverage divides over whether the policy was federal overreach endangering eligible voters or whether one district judge overstepped by voiding it nationwide.
Left coverage, 6 sources: The left sees a judge stopping an administration effort to control elections that put eligible citizens at risk of losing their votes.
Right coverage, 6 sources: The right sees a legitimate push to verify voter eligibility halted by one district judge whose nationwide remedy deserves appellate review.
