6th Circuit Blocks Justice Department From Michigan Voter Rolls In 2-1 Ruling

A U.S. appeals court upheld a decision blocking the Justice Department from obtaining Michigan’s voter rolls, dealing a blow to the Trump administration’s push to boost federal oversight in elections.

The 2-1 decision from the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals came as President Donald Trump’s Republicans were locked in a tight battle to maintain control of both houses of Congress in the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

Campaign Legal Center

The majority opinion in the 2-1 decision was written by Judge Andre Mathis and joined by Judge R. Guy Cole, and it said the government’s demand letters to Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office did not state a basis or purpose as required by law.

The ruling also addressed the legal theory DOJ used under the 1960 Civil Rights Act, with the court concluding Michigan was not obligated to produce the confidential voter data that could include partial Social Security numbers and driver’s license numbers.

The Detroit News reported that the two judges denied the request in part on technical grounds, while Judge John B. Nalbandian dissented and called it a “complicated case.”

Writing for the appellate panel majority, Circuit Judge Andre Mathis said the 1960 civil rights law DOJ relied on did not cover Michigan’s aggregated voter file.

Mathis wrote, “Back then, the government used this power to ensure that everyone who had the right to vote could freely exercise that right,” and he added, “But today, the government invokes Title III for an inverse purpose—to ensure that some people have not voted.”

CNN

The ruling also said DOJ failed to meet Title III’s requirements by not providing a statement of both the basis and purpose for its demands, and the court rejected DOJ’s attempt to use the statute for records created and maintained by the state.

The Detroit News reported that the majority opinion held that “Benson did not violate Title III by refusing to produce the unredacted qualified voter file,” while Nalbandian dissented over DOJ’s asserted basis tied to the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and “Michigan’s compliance with the list maintenance requirements” of HAVA and the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.

CNN added that the dispute centered on whether DOJ could use provisions of the 1960 Civil Rights Act to obtain voter rolls, and it described DOJ’s plan to compare state rolls against a Department of Homeland Security data system for verifying citizenship.

The ruling marked the first time an appellate court weighed in on the issue, and Votebeat said Michigan’s case was the first to be heard and ruled on at the appellate level.

“A federal appeals court panel Wednesday dealt the Trump administration its first appellate defeat in its nationwide crusade to obtain unredacted state voter rolls — after nine straight district court losses and no wins”

Democracy Docket

Votebeat reported that the next step up would be to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, but it also said a resolution—particularly one that could be meaningfully implemented—before the midterm elections was unlikely.

Democracy Docket said Wednesday’s decision was the first appellate defeat in DOJ’s voter roll crusade after nine straight district court losses and no wins, and it added that because Kentucky is also in the Sixth Circuit, the ruling would be binding precedent for DOJ’s pending voter roll lawsuit there.

The Campaign Legal Center said DOJ’s actions were an improper overreach by the federal government, arguing that DOJ demanded expansive voter information from at least 39 states and was attempting to use the courts to require states to comply with those demands.

CNN reported that the Justice Department had sued 30 states that refused to produce their unredacted voter rolls, while Votebeat said the department had sued 29 other states and Washington, D.C., and that seventeen states had complied voluntarily.