Judge Mary McElroy Dismisses Trump DOJ Bid To Access Rhode Island Voter Data

A federal judge in the United States dismissed a Department of Justice lawsuit seeking to access voter data from Rhode Island, dealing another blow to the administration of President Donald Trump.

“A federal judge in the United States has dismissed a Department of Justice lawsuit seeking to access voter data from Rhode Island”

Al Jazeera

The decision on Friday came in a case brought by the DOJ to obtain sensitive voter information from Rhode Island, and U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy sided with Rhode Island election officials and civil rights advocates.

Al Jazeera

McElroy wrote that the Justice Department does not have the authority "to conduct the kind of fishing expedition it seeks here."

Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore praised the ruling in a statement, saying, "The executive branch seems to have no problem taking actions that are clear Constitutional overreaches, regularly meddling in responsibilities that are the rights of the states."

The dispute is rooted in the fact that, under the US Constitution as described in the reporting, state officials administer elections and only Congress can pass laws related to how states oversee voting.

The DOJ’s lawsuit is part of a broader effort that the sources describe as seeking voter information in dozens of states, with the Justice Department suing at least 30 states for their voter information.

In the Rhode Island case, the judge also granted a motion to dismiss and denied a motion to compel Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore to hand over unredacted voter records, according to Rhode Island Current.

The Rhode Island case, as described by the sources, began after then-U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi petitioned Amore and secretaries of state nationwide to hand over unredacted, digital copies of statewide voter rolls.

Rhode Island Current says the case of United States vs. Amore began in September 2025, when Pam Bondi petitioned for unredacted voter rolls with the last four digits of registered voters’ Social Security numbers as well as driver’s license numbers intact.

CBS News

The reporting also describes that Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore offered the DOJ a copy of the state’s publicly available voter list as a substitute, while declining to turn over the unredacted information.

The DOJ responded with a lawsuit in December, and Rhode Island Current reports that Rhode Island became one of 29 states sued by the Trump administration over voter roll access.

The DOJ’s initial Dec. 2 filing, as quoted by Rhode Island Current, said the mission was to ensure that Rhode Island’s voter rolls are "accurate in the conduct of elections for Federal offices."

The sources also describe the DOJ’s legal theory as relying on federal election laws and, in some accounts, the Civil Rights Act of 1960 as an authority for demanding records.

Maryland Daily Record reports that McElroy called the request to Rhode Island "unprecedented" and concluded the department lacked authority under the National Voter Registration Act or the Help America Vote Act "to conduct the kind of fishing expedition it seeks here."

In the Rhode Island case, the judge’s decision came after attorneys for both sides presented arguments in Providence’s federal court, and Rhode Island Current says the decision came three weeks after those arguments.

The ruling prompted immediate reactions from Rhode Island officials, attorneys, and civil society groups described in the reporting.

“The Department of Justice (DOJ) lost again Friday, as a federal judge dismissed its lawsuit to force Rhode Island to provide unfettered access to its voter registration rolls, bringing the agency’s record among active cases to five defeats, zero wins and 25 cases still pending”

Democracy Docket

Gregg Amore, Rhode Island Secretary of State, said in a statement that the decision affirms the state’s position that the DOJ has no legal right to the personally identifiable information in the voter file, stating, "Today’s decision affirms our position: the United States Department of Justice has no legal right to — or need for — the personally-identifiable information in our voter file."

Amore also said, "Voter list maintenance is a responsibility entrusted to the states," and he added, "and I remain confident in the steps we take here in Rhode Island to keep our list as accurate as possible."

Attorney General Peter Neronha, whose office represented Amore, said he "never thought for a second we wouldn’t win this case," and he argued that the DOJ has been "compromised by the Trump Administration" and is now primarily focused on "doing the President’s bidding."

Common Cause Executive Director John Marion said the court’s decision prevents voters from having their personal information entered into an "unauthorized national database that would have been a goldmine for hackers and a tool for intimidation."

The reporting also includes a statement from DOJ Attorney Eric Neff during a March 26 hearing, where Neff said the Trump administration wanted the information to ensure Rhode Island’s voter list is "clean" and flag anyone who should be purged.

In the same account, Neff said the process would include sharing data with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to have it confirm if registered voters are citizens.

CBS News also reports that McElroy denied a motion from the Trump administration seeking to force Amore to hand over the voter data, reinforcing that the dismissal was not limited to the underlying lawsuit but also blocked the compelled disclosure request.

While all the sources describe the same core outcome—Judge Mary McElroy dismissing the DOJ’s effort to obtain Rhode Island’s unredacted voter data—the accounts emphasize different aspects of the dispute.

Al Jazeera frames the ruling as part of a broader pattern of losses for President Donald Trump’s administration, noting that the decision was "the latest loss" and describing the DOJ’s push as seeking to access voter data in dozens of states, while also quoting that Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore said the executive branch has "clear Constitutional overreaches."

LinkedIn

CBS News emphasizes that the dismissal marked "another blow" to the Trump administration’s attempts to gain access to state voter registration lists and highlights that McElroy’s decision was a "fishing expedition" not authorized by federal election laws.

The Boston Globe focuses on the specific personal information at issue, saying the voter records include "driver license numbers and partial Social Security numbers," and it quotes Amore saying it "affirms our position: the United States Department of Justice has no legal right to – or need for – the personally-identifiable information in our voter file."

Rhode Island Current provides a procedural and legal timeline, including that McElroy’s order was filed in the U.S. District Court of the District of Rhode Island and that the judge granted a motion to dismiss and denied a motion to compel, while also describing the case’s background in September 2025 and the DOJ’s Dec. 2 filing.

Democracy Docket, in turn, emphasizes the overall record of the DOJ in active cases, saying the DOJ lost again Friday and that the agency’s record among active cases was "five defeats, zero wins and 25 cases still pending."

It also highlights the DOJ’s use of the 1960 Civil Rights Act and quotes McElroy’s reasoning that "Absent from the demand are any factual allegations suggesting that Rhode Island may be violating the list maintenance requirements of the NVRA and HAVA."

Across accounts, the sources also differ in how they describe the DOJ’s stated purpose and the concerns about how data could be used, with PBS reporting that the information includes dates of birth, addresses, driver's license numbers and partial Social Security numbers and that DOJ attorneys acknowledged seeking unredacted voter roll information to share with the Department of Homeland Security to check citizenship status.

The sources describe the ruling as part of a wider legal and political fight over election administration leading into the midterm elections in November, which will decide the makeup of the US Congress.

“A federal judge on Friday rejected the U”

Maryland Daily Record

Al Jazeera reports that the push for voter information is one of several actions raising concerns about how the Trump administration will approach the midterm elections, and it says the administration is calling on Republicans to pass the so-called SAVE America Act.

Maryland Daily Record

Al Jazeera describes the SAVE America Act as a bill that would create higher documentation standards for voters to prove their citizenship when registering to vote and casting ballots, and it says critics argue it would risk disenfranchising millions of voters, particularly those who have legally changed their names.

The reporting also notes that Trump has continued to maintain that the 2020 election was "stolen," and it states that no evidence has ever been put forward to support the claims.

In the legal arena, the sources describe the DOJ’s broader pattern of lawsuits and losses, with CBS News saying the dismissal in Rhode Island marks the fifth loss for the Justice Department in its efforts to access state voter registration lists.

CBS News also says judges have dismissed lawsuits seeking voter registration information from "and Massachusetts" and that the DOJ has sued 30 states and the District of Columbia after officials refused to hand over their voter rolls.

Rhode Island Current adds that McElroy’s decision came three weeks after attorneys for both sides presented their arguments in Providence’s federal court, and it also describes that the DOJ had asked for permission in 13 states to file new demand letters with a more explicit basis.

Democracy Docket reports that the DOJ has filed appeals in all those states and that the White House is reportedly considering a promotion for Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon.