Appeals court rejects Trump DOJ bid to force Michigan to hand over voter rolls — first appellate loss for national voter database push
On June 24, 2026, a split Sixth Circuit panel upheld a lower-court order blocking the Justice Department from obtaining Michigan's unredacted voter rolls, handing the Trump administration its first appellate defeat in its nationwide campaign to compile a federal voter surveillance database.
On June 24, 2026, a divided Sixth Circuit panel ruled against the Department of Justice in its attempt to force Michigan to hand over unredacted voter rolls. This is the first appellate loss for the DOJ's broader push — which began in 2025 — to obtain confidential voter data from all 50 states and D.C., as part of what voting rights groups call an unconstitutional national voter surveillance and purge system. The ruling upholds a district court order that blocked the demand, preserving Michigan's ability to protect its voters' private information.
The decision does not permanently stop the DOJ's efforts. The agency has already sued 30 states, and judges in several others have dismissed those suits at the district level. The Sixth Circuit's split ruling — the exact vote breakdown is not confirmed in the available sources — leaves open the possibility that other circuits could reach different conclusions, so the legal battle is far from over. The DOJ could still appeal to the Supreme Court, and the push for a national voter database remains a core goal of the administration, enabled by election deniers who continue to push false claims of fraud.
The humanitarian alternative
Rather than demand unredacted voter data without cause, the Department of Justice should work with states on a transparent, narrowly targeted audit system under existing NVRA provisions that requires court orders based on specific evidence of illegal registrations. Congress should also fund the Election Assistance Commission to modernize state-to-state data sharing for list maintenance, not to centralize voter surveillance. A better path: require DOJ to obtain a judicial warrant based on probable cause before accessing any voter roll data, with robust privacy protections and an independent oversight mechanism.
Falsifiable predictions
What this entry claims will happen, and what data would prove it wrong. The Reckoner revisits these against current reality.
- The Trump DOJ will appeal this Sixth Circuit ruling to the full en banc panel, but will likely lose again if the panel decision is ideologically split along party lines.
- By the November 2026 midterms, Trump will issue an executive order attempting to bypass court rulings by directly directing federal agencies to request voter rolls under the Help America Vote Act or other statutes.
- At least two more states will pass laws modeled on California's SB 73 to explicitly block state election officials from complying with future federal voter data demands.
Grounded in
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Original source — excerpted
news US appeals court rejects Trump bid to force Michigan to hand over voter rolls"By Luc Cohen June 24 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday upheld a court order blocking the Justice Department from obtaining Michigan's voter rolls, ..."