DC DOGE Personal Data Consolidation Challenge
League of Women Voters et al v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security et al
A pro-democracy lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s new centralized database storing Americans’ protected personal information.
Background
The League of Women Voters filed a class action lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s creation of a “secretly consolidated” database housing Americans’ protected personal information for the purpose of purging voter rolls and opening criminal investigations. The database originated from President Donald Trump’s March executive order directing DHS to expand the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s Systemic Alien Verification Entitlements (SAVE) program to include Americans’ social security and voter registration data. Plaintiffs assert that the Trump administration violated the Administrative Procedures Act, constitutional separation of powers, mandatory official duties, and exceeded their statutory authorities. They seek to block further consolidation and use of the database.
Why It Matters
The Trump administration’s actions defy decades of laws passed to protect Americans’ personal information from interagency data sharing. The database includes, among other information, Americans’ medical, employment, tax, and citizenship records. Pooling this data into a centralized database is concerning on civil rights, privacy, and voting rights grounds, particularly as the commingling of disjointed data could result in citizens being wrongfully investigated for lawful voting and purged from voter rolls.
Latest Updates
- Nov. 17, 2025: The district court denied plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction citing failure to demonstrate irreparable injury, even though the court “doubt[ed] the lawfulness of the Government’s actions.”
- Oct. 29, 2025: Plaintiffs produced a supplemental briefing showing how the SAVE program is already harming eligible voters.
- Oct. 28, 2025: The court heard arguments on plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction, and plaintiffs to produce a supplemental briefing to show the SAVE program was already harming actual eligible voters.
- Oct. 27, 2025: The state of Texas seeks to intervene.
- Oct. 14, 2025: The court denied defendants’ motion to pause proceedings.
- Oct. 8, 2025: Defendants filed a motion to pause proceeding pending the end of the government shutdown.
- Oct. 7, 2025: Plaintiffs filed a motion for preliminary injunction.
- Sept. 30, 2025: Plaintiffs filed their complaint.