In a move that critics say marks a big blow to election integrity, a federal judge on Thursday dismissed a Trump administration Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuit that sought access to California’s voter files.
In dismissing the lawsuit, U.S. District Judge David Carter, a Clinton appointee, argued that allowing the feds to scrutinize California’s widely panned voter rolls would violate privacy rights and even hurt democracy.
“The taking of democracy does not occur in one fell swoop; it is chipped away piece-by-piece until there is nothing left,” Carter said, according to CBS News. “The case before the Court is one of these cuts that imperils all Americans.”
“The erosion of privacy and rolling back of voting rights is a decision for open and public debate within the Legislative Branch, not the Executive. The Constitution demands such respect, and the Executive may not unilaterally usurp the authority over elections it seeks to do so here,” he added.
JUST IN: A federal judge in California – the same judge who said in 2022 that Trump had likely committed crimes in his quest to subvert the 2020 election — rules DOJ’s demand for voter data from the states is “unprecedetened and illegal” and appears designed to disenfranchise… pic.twitter.com/Tbeh0PlIh2
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) January 15, 2026
CBS News notes that this is “the first formal court decision of what is expected to be many,” as the Trump DOJ has sued dozens of blue states demanding access to their voter rolls.
“The Civil Rights Division has claimed it needs the data to ensure compliance with two federal laws — the Help America Vote Act and the National Voter Registration Act — which require states to establish programs for maintaining clean voting lists so people ineligible to vote, such as convicted felons,” according to CBS.
Indeed, and this is vitally important, critics say, because of the shenanigans that have been exposed in blue states like California.
Case in point:
There are 26 registered voters at this toilet in California.
I’m not kidding. I have the voter records. See for yourself. The only thing here is a stinky port-a john inside an empty parking lot.
No homes. No mailboxes. Yet TWENTY SIX ‘people’ are casting ballots here.… pic.twitter.com/YqkpBKjuMH
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 16, 2026
“Clean voter rolls are the foundation of free and fair elections,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement when the lawsuit was filed in September. “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.”
Continuing his Thursday ruling, Carter also accused the DOJ of lying. According to him, it’s not true that they want access to voter rolls to ensure election integrity — they want access to give the data to the Department of Homeland Security for immigration enforcement.
“The Court does not take lightly DOJ’s obfuscation of its true motives in the present matter,” Carter said. “Congress passed the NVRA, Civil Rights Act, and HAVA to protect voting rights. If the DOJ wants to instead use these statutes for more than their stated purpose, circumventing the authority granted to them by Congress, it cannot do so under the guise of a pretextual investigative purpose.”
Carter is reportedly the same judge who, in 2022, accused President Donald Trump of trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election.
Carter also once ordered Los Angeles to spend $1 billion on the homeless because of “structural racism.”
FYI, just 6 months ago, 3 Obama-appointed Ninth Circuit judges reversed a ruling by Judge David Carter, a Clinton appointee.
He “impermissibly resorted to independent research and extra-record evidence” in ordering LA to spend $1B on homelessness due to “structural racism.” https://t.co/WcLfCsixDk
— 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) March 28, 2022
Carter’s ruling was celebrated by Dax Goldstein, the Election Protection Program Director at the so-called States United Democracy Center.
“Today the court sent a clear message: states run elections, not the administration,” he said in a statement. “This decision serves as a vindication of what states have been arguing for months: There is no legal basis for the federal government’s sweeping demands for voters’ most sensitive information.”
The Trump administration has not yet publicly commented on the ruling.
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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