Federal Election Law and Voting Rights

A federal judge, Hala Jarbou, rejected the Trump Justice Department’s bid to obtain Michigan’s full statewide voter registration list, finding that the Civil Rights Act of 1960 distinguishes between “voter registration applications” and “voter registration lists” and cannot be stretched to compel disclosure of modern computerized rolls. In a 23‑page opinion noting the court is not a “telepathic time‑traveler,” Jarbou denied the DOJ’s request after the department argued it needs full statewide lists and other election data from nearly every state and D.C. under Bondi’s interpretation of the 1960 law.