Election Law: Federal Judge Halts Trump Voter Purge Before Midterms

US District Judge Tanya Chutkan issued a temporary order on Monday blocking the Trump administration from distributing lists of registered voters to state election officials ahead of the November 3 midterms.

The ruling prohibits the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security from sending these lists, which the administration believes identify potential noncitizens, to states. Chutkan also barred federal agencies from demanding that state officials separate or refuse to count ballots from individuals on those lists until citizenship is proven.

The decision arrives as Republican candidates fight to maintain their majorities in both houses of Congress. It follows a month of intensified pressure from the White House, which sent letters to officials in California and Washington demanding they not count ballots from people appearing on the administration's noncitizen lists.

Voting rights and privacy advocates who filed the suit alleged the federal government was violating the Privacy Act of 1974. That law restricts the federal government's ability to disclose sensitive private information. The plaintiffs argued the administration's actions could disenfranchise lawfully registered voters if the data proved unreliable.

The Justice Department argued in a Saturday court filing that its letters were an enforcement of federal law banning noncitizen voting, rather than a distinct policy subject to federal court review. The department also noted that voting by noncitizens is illegal but exceedingly rare, according to all available evidence.

The administration secured a separate victory in a parallel case. A panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that the government may threaten state and local election officials with prosecution if they refuse to comply with demands regarding alleged noncitizen voting. Chutkan is not bound by that appellate ruling.

Chutkan, an Obama appointee based in Washington, DC, stated that the administration's data may not be reliable. Her ruling creates a temporary shield for states as they prepare to count ballots for the upcoming midterms.