WASHINGTON, D.C. – A federal court today dismissed the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit seeking to force Massachusetts to turn over the sensitive personal information of millions of registered voters. U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin dismissed the lawsuit after Elias Law Group attorneys filed a motion to dismiss on behalf of the New England Area Conference of the NAACP and the Massachusetts Alliance for Retired Americans.
This ruling is the latest in a series of legal defeats for the Department of Justice as the Trump Administration continues its unprecedented campaign to build a nationwide voting database by demanding unredacted personal data from every state and suing any state that declines its demand. The Department of Justice has sued over 30 states and the District of Columbia. So far this year, federal courts in California, Oregon, and Michigan have already dismissed the DOJ’s claims. The Massachusetts decision brings DOJ’s losses in these cases to four; DOJ has yet to succeed in any of these suits demanding sensitive voter information from the states.
“The Trump Administration is attempting to twist civil rights laws into tools to suppress voters and interfere with free and fair elections,” said Elias Law Group partner David Fox. “Courts all over the country are making clear that the Department of Justice’s unprecedented demands for unredacted voter data from states were issued without legal authority. We are proud to stand alongside the New England Area Conference of the NAACP and the Massachusetts Alliance for Retired Americans to push back against DOJ’s dangerous attack on democracy and voter privacy in Massachusetts.”
In a 13-page order, Judge Sorokin found that the Attorney General’s demand letter to Massachusetts failed to provide the factual basis required for states to comply with such a demand.
“The Attorney General offered no basis—none—and the demand was therefore facially inadequate,” wrote Judge Sorokin.
Click HERE to read the full order.
Elias Law Group has moved to intervene on behalf of voters and pro-voting organizations in each of the DOJ’s voter data lawsuits.
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