Trump DOJ seeks to undo first appeals loss in voter roll crusade, asks for rehearing

President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice asked the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday to reconsider a ruling that rejected its demand for Michigan’s unredacted voter rolls, seeking to erase the department’s first appellate defeat in its nationwide voter data crusade.

DOJ’s petition asks for en banc rehearing, meaning the department wants the full appeals court — not just the three-judge panel that ruled against it — to review the case.

The move comes after the Sixth Circuit affirmed Michigan’s win last month, holding that DOJ could not use Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 to force Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) to hand over the state’s full statewide voter registration list.

DOJ has now lost 11 district court cases and its first appeal in its effort to obtain unredacted voter rolls. No court has ordered a state to turn over that sensitive data.

In Wednesday’s petition, DOJ argued that the panel ruling threatens its broader voter roll campaign.

“If allowed to stand, the decision will paralyze the United States’ ability to ensure enforcement and compliance with various federal voting laws,” DOJ wrote, citing the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act.

The department also emphasized the national stakes of the ruling, arguing that the Michigan decision could shape similar cases across the country.

“Moreover, because the panel opinion is the first appellate decision directly addressing whether the CRA reaches [statewide voter registration lists], and twenty other pending cases (including one in this Circuit) currently present similar issues, the panel opinion is likely to become the principal appellate authority on the issue,” DOJ wrote.

That one case in the Sixth Circuit is DOJ’s pending lawsuit against Kentucky. Because Kentucky is also in the Sixth Circuit, the Michigan decision is binding precedent there unless it is vacated or reversed.

DOJ previewed this move last month in the Kentucky case, asking a federal judge to delay any ruling while the department sought en banc review. DOJ told the Kentucky court that granting rehearing would “vacate the panel’s decision and restore the case as a pending appeal.”

DOJ’s petition attacks two core parts of the Sixth Circuit’s ruling. First, it argues the panel was wrong to hold that Michigan’s voter file is not covered by Title III because it is “internally generated” rather than received from an outside source.

“Michigan’s [statewide voter registration list] fits comfortably within the plain and ordinary scope of that text,” DOJ wrote.

Second, DOJ challenges the panel’s conclusion that its demand letters failed to meet Title III’s requirements because the department did not provide the basis and purpose for its demand in a single document.

The petition asks the full Sixth Circuit to revisit both holdings and revive DOJ’s bid to force Michigan to produce its unredacted voter file.

For now though, the scoreboard remains unchanged. DOJ has lost every voter roll case to reach a court ruling, but the department is now asking the Sixth Circuit to erase its first appellate loss before it sinks more of Trump’s voter roll cases.