{"id":2347,"date":"2026-04-10T10:23:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T14:23:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/?post_type=press&p=2347"},"modified":"2026-04-10T10:23:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T14:23:34","slug":"federal-court-dismisses-trump-administrations-lawsuit-to-obtain-private-voter-data-from-massachusetts","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/press\/federal-court-dismisses-trump-administrations-lawsuit-to-obtain-private-voter-data-from-massachusetts\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Court Dismisses Trump Administration’s Lawsuit to Obtain Private Voter Data from Massachusetts"},"template":"","class_list":["post-2347","press","type-press","status-publish","hentry","press_type-press-release"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"Voting Rights Groups Help Secure Legal Victory Protecting Data Privacy \r\n","featured_image":"","press_type":146,"authors":"","related_issues":[462],"related_work":false,"location":24},"sidebar":{"helper_enable_sidebar":false,"helper_media_contact":{"heading":"Media Contact","manually_enter_person":false,"person":"","name":"","role":"","phone":"","email":""},"helper_links_downloads":{"heading":"Links & Downloads","links":null}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"
BOSTON \u2014\u00a0A\u00a0U.S.\u00a0District Court judge today\u00a0<\/span>dismissed<\/u><\/a>\u00a0a\u00a0Trump administration\u00a0lawsuit\u00a0seeking\u00a0full\u00a0access to unredacted voter rolls\u00a0from\u00a0Massachusetts, which\u00a0contain\u00a0highly sensitive\u00a0information about voters.\u00a0The court found that the Department of Justice offered no basis for\u00a0demanding the information\u00a0and did not even\u00a0attempt\u00a0to remedy the \u201cclear shortcomings\u201d in its\u00a0process.<\/div>\r\n
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The American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Massachusetts\u00a0filed\u00a0a\u00a0motion\u00a0to dismiss\u00a0the DOJ\u2019s complaint\u00a0and opposed the DOJ\u2019s motion to compel\u00a0disclosure of the voter data\u00a0on behalf of\u00a0intervenors\u00a0Common Cause, Jane Doe Inc., and\u00a0impacted voter Juan Pablo\u00a0Jaramillo of Revere.<\/div>\r\n
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\u201cAs today\u2019s ruling makes clear, the Trump administration provided absolutely no basis for its extraordinary demand to access sensitive voter data in Massachusetts,\u201d\u00a0said\u00a0Jessie Rossman, legal director at the ACLU of Massachusetts.<\/b>\u00a0\u201cAttempting to enforce such a demand without any explanation is a fundamental abuse of executive power that has no place in our electoral system. The court\u2019s dismissal of this baseless lawsuit is a victory for\u00a0Massachusetts voters and democracy.\u201d<\/div>\r\n
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Massachusetts was one of 29 states plus the District of Columbia to be sued by the DOJ in its pursuit of unredacted voter rolls. Judges in three other states \u2014 Michigan, Oregon, and California \u2014 have also dismissed the DOJ\u2019s lawsuits. Cases in other states are pending.<\/div>\r\n
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\u201cDOJ is attempting to commandeer voters\u2019 sensitive personal information for no legitimate reason, and the Court saw right through it,\u201d\u00a0said\u00a0Ari\u00a0Savitzky, senior staff attorney with the ACLU\u2019s Voting Rights Project.<\/b>\u00a0\u201cThe federal government\u00a0can't\u00a0bully states into handing over private voter data\u00a0\u2014\u00a0and we will stand up to stop them when they try.\u00a0Protecting voters means holding this administration accountable for this unlawful data grab.\u201d<\/div>\r\n
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This\u00a0case,\u202fUnited States v.\u202fGalvin<\/u><\/i><\/a>, originated late last year when the\u00a0DOJ\u00a0sued Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin after he refused to turn over unredacted voter rolls\u00a0containing\u202fhighly sensitive\u202finformation, including full names, dates of birth, addresses, driver\u2019s licenses numbers, and partial Social Security numbers.<\/div>\r\n
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Granted leave to intervene in early January, the ACLU\u2019s clients\u00a0argued that the DOJ did\u00a0not have a legal right to obtain complete, unredacted voter rolls\u00a0and that\u00a0it\u00a0could\u00a0not\u00a0be trusted with such sensitive information, given the Trump administration\u2019s brazen efforts to undermine election integrity. Extensive reporting suggests that the Trump administration wants to aggregate state voter information into a national database to disenfranchise voters.<\/div>\r\n
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Voters and voting rights groups involved in the case shared the following comments:<\/div>\r\n
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Geoff Foster, Common Cause\u2019s Massachusetts executive director: <\/b>\u201cToday\u2019s ruling is\u00a0a\u00a0victory\u00a0for voter privacy and a testament to the power of organized advocacy in the face of federal overreach. By\u00a0standing\u00a0our ground,\u00a0we\u2019ve\u00a0ensured that\u00a0the people of Massachusetts\u00a0are protected from an unauthorized national database that would have been a goldmine for hackers and a tool for intimidation.\u00a0Common Cause will continue\u00a0fighting\u00a0any attacks on voting rights and data privacy to\u00a0ensure our elections\u00a0remain\u00a0safe, secure, and in the hands of Bay Staters where they belong.\u201d<\/div>\r\n
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Juan Pablo Jaramillo, a resident of Revere:\u00a0<\/b>\u201cAs a voter who is deeply concerned about the integrity of our elections, I am relieved by this ruling. Judge Leo T. Sorokin's decision rebuffs the Trump administration's attempt to intimidate and silence Massachusetts voters like me. This ruling also is a welcome sign that our judicial system is strong and independent, and that while the tenets of our constitutional republic are under threat, they are bending but not breaking under attempts to undermine them.\u00a0I am grateful to Jane Doe Inc.,\u00a0the ACLU and\u00a0ACLU of Massachusetts,\u00a0Common\u00a0Cause Massachusetts, and civil\u00a0and voting rights organizations that joined in this fight with whom I will continue to be vigilant about threats to our election security.\u201d<\/div>\r\n
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Read the\u00a0order\u00a0here<\/u><\/a>.<\/div>\r\n
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More information about\u00a0United States v. Galvin<\/i>\u00a0here<\/u><\/a>.<\/div>\r\n
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###<\/div>"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_add_component","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_add_component":null},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_work","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_work":{"heading":"Work","manually_curate":false,"work":null}}]},"yoast_head":"\nFederal Court Dismisses Trump Administration's Lawsuit to Obtain Private Voter Data from Massachusetts - Common Cause Massachusetts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Voting Rights Groups Help Secure Legal Victory Protecting Data Privacy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/press\/federal-court-dismisses-trump-administrations-lawsuit-to-obtain-private-voter-data-from-massachusetts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Federal Court Dismisses Trump Administration's Lawsuit to Obtain Private Voter Data from Massachusetts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Voting Rights Groups Help Secure Legal Victory Protecting Data Privacy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/press\/federal-court-dismisses-trump-administrations-lawsuit-to-obtain-private-voter-data-from-massachusetts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Common Cause Massachusetts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/RightsRestoration_2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1680\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1120\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/press\/federal-court-dismisses-trump-administrations-lawsuit-to-obtain-private-voter-data-from-massachusetts\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/press\/federal-court-dismisses-trump-administrations-lawsuit-to-obtain-private-voter-data-from-massachusetts\/\",\"name\":\"Federal Court Dismisses Trump Administration's Lawsuit to Obtain Private Voter Data from Massachusetts - 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