Federal Judge Denies DOJ Bid to Access California Voter Registration Rolls

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter said the government cannot use civil rights legislation ‘as a tool to forsake the privacy rights’ of voters.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber speaks in Los Angeles on April 15, 2024. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

A federal judge on Jan. 15 dismissed the Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) bid to access California’s voter registration databases, ruling that the demand for voter data from California Secretary of State Shirley Weber was “unprecedented and illegal.”

In a 33-page decision, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter sided with California, saying the DOJ cannot use civil rights legislation “as a tool to forsake the privacy rights of millions of Americans,” noting that such authority rests solely with Congress.

The DOJ filed lawsuits in September against six states, including California, alleging they violated federal law by refusing to provide voting records the department said were necessary to prevent inclusion of ineligible voters. The lawsuits were filed separately in each state.

“The Department of Justice seeks to use civil rights legislation which was enacted for an entirely different purpose to amass and retain an unprecedented amount of confidential voter data,” Carter said. “This effort goes far beyond what Congress intended when it passed the underlying legislation.”

The judge also said the federal government’s request could deter voters from registering due to concerns about how their personal information might be used, threatening the right to vote.

“The centralization of this information by the federal government would have a chilling effect on voter registration which would inevitably lead to decreasing voter turnout as voters fear that their information is being used for some inappropriate or unlawful purpose,” Carter said.

Weber welcomed the ruling and said she would continue to challenge what she described as the administration’s “disregard for the rule of law and our right to vote.”

“As California Secretary of State, I am entrusted with ensuring that California’s state election laws are enforced—including state laws that protect the privacy of Californians’ data,” Weber said in a Jan. 15 statement.

The Epoch Times reached out to the DOJ for comment, but did not receive a response by publication time.

In its complaint against California on Sept. 25, 2025, the DOJ said the state refused to cooperate with the federal government’s request for voter registration databases—including each voter’s full name, date of birth, address, state driver’s license number, and the last four digits of their Social Security number—citing concerns over privacy protections.

The DOJ had argued that its Civil Rights Division has been tasked by Congress with ensuring that states conduct voter registration list maintenance to prevent ineligible voters from being listed.

“Clean voter rolls are the foundation of free and fair elections,” U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement at the time.

“Every state has a responsibility to ensure that voter registration records are accurate, accessible, and secure—states that don’t fulfill that obligation will see this Department of Justice in court.”

Citing the lawsuits, the DOJ said at the time that Bondi is uniquely charged by Congress “with the enforcement of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which were designed by Congress to ensure that states have proper and effective voter registration and voter list maintenance programs.”