DOJ Appeals Order to Release 20,000 California Voter Names as Probe Concerns Mount
Updated
Updated · Democracy Docket · Oct 31
DOJ Appeals Order to Release 20,000 California Voter Names as Probe Concerns Mount
3 articles · Updated · Democracy Docket · Oct 31
Summary
The Justice Department missed a Friday 5 p.m. ET deadline and told Judge James Boasberg it will appeal his order to hand an immigrant rights group a list of about 20,000 alleged noncitizens registered to vote in California.
DOJ asked for a stay, arguing the list includes names, birthdates and addresses and that disclosure could expose subjects or witnesses in pending investigations while effectively nullifying its appeal.
Boasberg had limited any release by barring the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights from sharing names or notifying anyone on the list, but the group says it needs the records to test the list's accuracy and support its lawsuit.
That suit challenges the Trump administration's push to pressure states to screen voter rolls for noncitizens, a campaign the plaintiffs say risks wrongly flagging naturalized citizens and intrudes on state election authority.
Questions over the list have intensified after a DHS whistleblower alleged the matching effort swept in known U.S. citizens; Los Angeles County's review of a 7,035-person sample found about 1 in 4 listed the U.S. as their birthplace.