Trump DOJ and State Powers

The article details how the Trump Justice Department is waging a three‑pronged, nationwide campaign to obtain highly detailed voter‑registration data from states ahead of the 2026 midterms, arguing noncitizens could be on the rolls despite the federal ban on noncitizen voting in federal elections. DOJ has sued roughly two dozen mostly Democratic‑led states seeking full voter lists including partial Social Security numbers and dates of birth, but has so far been rebuffed by federal judges in Michigan, Oregon and California; in the most recent case, Trump‑appointed Judge Hala Jarbou ruled that the Civil Rights Act, Help America Vote Act and National Voter Registration Act do not entitle DOJ to Michigan’s 7 million‑voter registration list. At the same time, the department has secured voluntary "memoranda of understanding" with Republican‑run states such as Texas, Alabama and Mississippi to hand over the desired data, and Attorney General Pam Bondi has tried to pressure Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to comply by linking voter‑roll access to easing unrest tied to the federal immigration crackdown there. Voting‑rights advocates and many Democratic officials say the push infringes on states’ authority to run elections and risks weaponizing sensitive personal data, while conservative activists and the administration frame the effort as necessary to detect and deter rare instances of noncitizen registration and voting. The clash is unfolding alongside a separate Trump‑backed legislative push, including the SAVE Act, to impose national proof‑of‑citizenship rules, making voter‑roll data access one of the key legal fronts in the 2026 election‑integrity wars.