Judge strikes down DOJ's policy of reviewing state voter rolls, saying it would "run roughshod over longstanding laws" – CBS News

Judge strikes down DOJ’s policy of reviewing state voter rolls, saying it would “run roughshod over longstanding laws”  CBS News

A federal judge has struck down the Trump administration's plan to check state voter rolls against federal immigration databases and press states to remove voters it determines are registered illegally. A federal judge has struck down the Trump administration's plan to check state voter rolls against federal immigration databases, a blow to the administration's election-related efforts in the run-up to the midterms. In a 78-page ruling, D.C.-based U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan wrote Friday that the Justice Department "cannot run roughshod over longstanding laws that were carefully crafted to protect the rights of the American people." The Trump administration has mounted a nationwide push to obtain complete voter rolls from every state, including sensitive information about registered voters.

The Justice Department has argued the information is needed to ensure states are complying with two federal voting laws — the Help America Vote Act and the National Voter Registration Act — which aim to ensure states have programs in place for maintaining accurate voter rolls. Eighteen states fully cooperated with the Justice Department's request for voter files, Sooknanan said. The department has brought lawsuits against most other states, and has lost almost all of the suits, according to a CBS News analysis. One state settled with the federal government. The ruling applies to the voter files that the Justice Department has