Federal judge blocks Justice Department voter roll audit policy

U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan has blocked a major Trump administration initiative, ruling that the Justice Department's nationwide program to audit state voter rolls for non-citizens is unlawful. Sooknanan declared that Congress left election administration authority with the states, not the federal government. The ruling represents a significant setback for the administration's efforts to expand federal control over elections ahead of the November midterms, following 26 courtroom defeats against states that resisted handing over unredacted voter data.

Judge blocks DOJ voter audits

• ▪U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan's October 9, 2026, ruling vacated the Justice Department's voter list review policy and blocked the department from directing state voter roll purges
• ▪U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan ruled on October 9, 2026, that the Justice Department's policy of collecting state voter rolls to audit them for non-citizen voters is unlawful

Trump voter fraud investigations

• ▪Federal election law prohibits the systematic review of voter rolls within the 90 days preceding any federal election
• ▪President Donald Trump ordered the Justice Department in 2025 to investigate and crack down on voting by ineligible non-citizens, driven by his beliefs regarding mass election fraud

State voter data requests

• ▪The Justice Department sued Washington, D.C. and 30 states that refused to provide unredacted voter rolls, losing 26 of those lawsuits without winning any
• ▪The Justice Department requested unredacted voter rolls from nearly all 50 states, and at least 18 mostly Republican-led states complied by handing over the sensitive data

Debatable claims

• ▪The Justice Department's voter roll audits infringe on state authority over elections
• ▪Noncitizen voting is a significant threat to U.S. election integrity
• ▪Preventing non-citizen voting justifies the Justice Department's collection of unredacted voter rolls
• ▪The DOJ Civil Rights Division should prioritize protecting voter access over investigating fraud