DOJ is 0 for 21 as court dismisses D.C. voter roll grab

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) took its latest blow in a failing voter roll crusade as a federal judge Thursday dismissed its case targeting Washington, D.C. This marks a 0-21 record for the DOJ.

U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss relied on the same legal reasoning as past courts when he ruled the Civil Rights Act of 1960 does not allow the federal government to access unredacted state voter registration lists.

“At this time, twenty district courts and the Sixth Circuit have denied the government’s motion to compel on various grounds, leaving the Court with no shortage of guidance on these issues,” Moss wrote.

Moss, an Obama appointee, is the 16th court in the voter roll cases to take this position on the application of Title III of the Civil Rights Act, calling out what he characterized as incongruent logic by the DOJ.

Consistent with past decisions, Moss also held that the DOJ’s argument to push for access to sensitive voter information contradicts federal laws like the Help America Vote Act and the National Voter Registration Act, both of which ensure voter rolls are kept up to date by state election officials.

Taking the DOJ’s argument at face value, its application of one federal law would contradict two others and prevent election officials from doing their jobs, Moss concluded.

“Nothing in the text of Title III compels this strange and unharmonious reading of federal election law,” Moss wrote.

The decision aligns with what district court judges appointed by both Democrats and Republicans have ruled in recent weeks, as well as in a court of appeals case in Michigan. 

“If the Department disagrees with Congress’s judgment as to the records necessary to carry out its enforcement duties under either HAVA or the NVRA, it needs to lodge that objection with Congress,” Moss wrote.

The DOJ still has 10 outstanding voter roll cases with a success rate of 0% as losses continue to pour in — eight from Trump-appointed judges so far.