‘One of the worst ones I’ve ever seen’: Legal experts eviscerate DOJ’s Alaska lawsuit

The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit to preemptively block certification of the results in Alaska’s U.S. Senate race if the Republican loses is pure bunk, according to a growing chorus of legal experts, democracy advocates and politicians.

And that’s saying a lot for a department that has gone 0-26 in lawsuits to obtain states’ unredacted voter files. 

The DOJ is claiming Alaska’s Senate contest, which includes the names of incumbent Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan and independent candidate Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. — both marked as such on the ballot — is too confusing. It is asking a court to block certification of the results if Sen. Sullivan loses, but would have won if he received the votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan. 

So far, the logic of the suit doesn’t fly with many experts.

“[S}etting aside the factual issue, the legal argument is one of the worst ones I’ve ever seen,” Notre Dame law professor Derek Muller wrote.

The DOJ’s legal argument is that Alaska’s Division of Elections would be violating its duties to uphold electoral integrity under the National Voter Registration Act, if Sen. Sullivan loses. 

But as elections expert Rick Hasen pointed out in Slate, the DOJ’s complaint is so shoddily written — riddled with typos and “legally vacuous” claims — that it’s difficult to see how any court would take it seriously. 

“DOJ has no power to decide which candidates can appear on the ballot,” Hasen wrote. “The sole basis that DOJ asserted for trying to block the state’s certification process is the National Voter Registration Act’s preamble that reads that the act is designed to ‘protect the integrity of the electoral process.’ That preamble of course gives no power whatsoever to the federal government to do anything. It does not give DOJ the power to determine ballot access or block certification of a federal election.”

In the race, Sen. Sullivan faces a challenge by Democratic candidate Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman who currently leads in polling by a thin margin.  She has criticized the lawsuit. 

“This is the corruption AK is fed up with, and it’s why I’m in this race,” Peltola said on social media platform X. “Sullivan has enriched himself at our expense for 12 years. Now he’s using his DC allies to try to keep himself in power and put his own interests ahead of Alaskans.”

The Alaska lawsuit is just the Trump administration’s latest escalation in its plot to exert federal control over election administration, which the Constitution assigns to the states, not the executive branch. In fact, shortly after the DOJ filed the lawsuit, President Donald Trump boasted that he had ordered it.

Voting and democracy advocates aren’t impressed.

“With this move, the Trump administration has sunk to a new low in attempting to suppress the vote itself and sow doubt in the process,” Center for American Progress senior fellow Ben Hovland said in a statement. “This baseless litigation reeks of desperation from an administration afraid of the voters’ judgment of its failed policies. The voters of Alaska should go to the ballot box and make their voices heard without interference from the federal government.”  

“The Justice Dept’s lawsuit in Alaska represents an unprecedented intervention by the federal government,” said Center for Election Innovation & Research executive director David Becker. “This is purely a matter of state law, and the administration has absolutely no authority to tell Alaska when or how to certify the results of its Senate election.”

The rebukes aren’t just coming from experts who skew liberal. 

“I believe that this lawsuit is abusive in its intentions and borders on frivolous in its arguments, and that it is destined for defeat in the courts should it reach the merits,” Walter Olson, a senior fellow with the libertarian Cato Institute, wrote. “It is abusive because the supposed federal claims are being sprung from the weeds at the last minute when they could have been raised long ago, when courts could have considered them in a more unhurried way.” 

While a state court originally blocked the independent candidate Sullivan from the ballot, the Alaska Supreme Court reinstated his candidacy in the race in June. Early voting began in Alaska on Oct. 19.

Several people have since posted the Alaska ballot on social media to point out that the two Sullivans’ names are clearly distinguished from each other and to argue that Alaska has satisfied its duty to ensure that voters wouldn’t be confused.

This is what the ballot looks like for Alaska Senate. See if you can figure out who the real GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan is https://t.co/YnJ3M257z8

— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) October 23, 2026

Meanwhile, several Democratic lawmakers accused Trump of trying to use the lawsuit to influence the outcome of the midterms.

“Trump’s DOJ is working proactively to sow doubt in our elections and laying the groundwork to deny elections that Republicans lose,” Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) wrote on Bluesky.

“This is fascism, plain and simple, and we must call it out,” she added.

“This is the kind of thug behavior creepy billionaires and their government stooges resort to when it looks like the people are going to reclaim their power,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) wrote on X. 

“Fearful that he is losing in Alaska, Trump is desperately clinging to power by weaponizing the Justice Department and declaring fraud nearly two weeks before an election has even occurred,” Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) wrote on X. “The only threat to election integrity is Donald Trump.”