Trump DOJ now 0 for 20 after judge dismisses Colorado voter roll lawsuit ‘with prejudice’

By Zachary Roth

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 8: Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold speaks to reporters outside the U.S. Supreme Court on February 8, 2024 in Washington, DC. The court heard oral arguments in a case on whether or not former President Trump can remain on the ballot in Colorado for the 2024 presidential election. (Photo by Julia Nikhinson/Getty Images)

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is zero for 20 in its lawsuits seeking to obtain state voter rolls, after a federal judge dismissed its case against Colorado Monday. 

U.S. District Judge Philip Brimmer found that DOJ did not provide a sufficient reason for needing the state’s rolls, or a valid purpose for obtaining them, as required by law. He also found that unredacted state voter rolls aren’t records that the department is entitled to under federal law.

Those findings echoed the conclusions of every other judge to have ruled on DOJ’s voter roll lawsuits.

Brimmer, an appointee of President George W. Bush, a Republican, dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning it can’t be filed again. 

“Trump and his DOJ are attacking elections and democracy,” Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D), the defendant in the lawsuit, said in a statement after the ruling. “We will not let them win. Today’s victory affirms that Trump’s DOJ has no right to Coloradans’ sensitive voter information. I will always defend our elections from unlawful federal interference.”

Griswold has been among the most outspoken election officials in denouncing DOJ’s voter roll crusade. 

Of the 20 voter roll rulings to go against DOJ, 12 have come from judges appointed by GOP presidents. Eight of those 12 judges have been appointed by President Donald Trump. 

DOJ also has lost the only appeals court ruling to have been issued on the voter roll lawsuits, which came from the 6th Circuit, in DOJ’s case against Michigan.

This story has been updated.