Common Cause v. Department of Justice
Overview
Overview
Common Cause sued the Department of Justice over its attempt to gain access to unredacted statewide voter registration lists from nearly every state and Washington, D.C.
The Issue
Issue
Whether the Department of Justice has statutory authority to request and obtain unredacted statewide voter registration lists from substantially all states and whether such requests comply with federal privacy protections and principles of federalism in election administration.
The Rules
Rule
Agencies possess only those powers delegated by statute; voter registration data is generally protected from disclosure under state and federal privacy laws absent specific statutory authorization; states retain primary authority over voter registration systems under the Elections Clause and the Tenth Amendment.
The Application
Analysis
The DOJ sought unredacted voter rolls from nearly every state and D.C., asserting authority to access comprehensive personal voter data. Common Cause challenges this action as exceeding the DOJ's statutory mandate, violating privacy protections, and encroaching on state sovereignty over election administration.
The Conclusion
Conclusion
On October 9, 2026, Judge Sparkle Sooknanan granted the plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment and denied the Justice Department's cross-motion and motion to dismiss, setting aside and vacating DOJ's Voter List Maintenance Policy nationwide. The policy, adopted by the Civil Rights Division to implement Executive Order 14248, had the Division demanding states' complete, unredacted voter-registration lists, running them through the SAVE database, and pressing states to remove flagged voters. The court held the policy unlawful on four independent grounds: it exceeds DOJ's authority under the Civil Rights Act of 1960, the National Voter Registration Act, and the Help America Vote Act; it is arbitrary and capricious; it violates the Privacy Act; and it violates the Paperwork Reduction Act. The court ordered universal vacatur and rejected the argument that Trump v. CASA narrowed that remedy. The ruling is an appealable final order, and the Justice Department may appeal to the D.C. Circuit.
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