Appeals Court Hands Trump DOJ Its First Appellate Loss on Voter Data
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that Michigan does not have to give the Justice Department the birthdates, partial Social Security numbers, and driver's licence numbers of every registered voter in the state.
The 2-1 decision is the first appellate ruling in what has become a 30-state campaign by the Trump administration to access unredacted voter registration files from state governments across the country.
What the Court Decided and Why It Matters Beyond Michigan
The DOJ began demanding detailed voter registration data from virtually every state in the summer of 2025, arguing it needed the information to verify that only eligible citizens are registered to vote.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson provided the public version of the state voter file — which does not include sensitive personal identifiers — but refused to hand over the full unredacted version.
The DOJ sued in September 2025 under Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960, which requires states to retain election records and make them available for federal inspection. A district judge dismissed the case in February, ruling that none of the laws cited required the disclosure. The department appealed.
The Sixth Circuit agreed, according to Votebeat's reporting. Judge Andre Mathis, appointed by President Biden, authored the majority opinion, joined by Senior Judge R. Guy Cole, appointed by President Clinton. Judge John Nalbandian — nominated by Trump in his first term — dissented.
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The Legal Argument That Undermines Every Pending Case
The majority's reasoning goes to the heart of the DOJ's entire voter-roll strategy.
Michigan's qualified voter file was created, built, and maintained by the state. The court ruled that an ordinary English speaker would not say a person "came into possession" of something she created herself — which is the threshold that Title III requires to trigger disclosure obligations.
The court also identified a separate procedural failure: the DOJ's demand letters did not include both legally required elements — the basis and the purpose of the request — in a single document, as the law demands. Either defect alone was enough to defeat the claim.
The Sixth Circuit's ruling is now binding precedent across the circuit, which includes Kentucky. According to the University of Wisconsin Law School's State Democracy Research Initiative tracker, the DOJ has active suits against more than 30 states. Every pending case in the Sixth Circuit is now governed by this ruling — and states in other circuits have a persuasive authority decision from the first appellate court to address the question.
Nine district courts had already dismissed DOJ suits before Wednesday. None of those rulings created binding precedent across multiple states. This one does.
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What the DOJ Has Not Said — and What Happens Next
The DOJ did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday, leaving open whether it intends to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Even if it does, the timing creates a structural problem. Michigan's primary absentee ballots begin going out Thursday. A Supreme Court appeal, briefing schedule, and any possible resolution before the November 2026 midterms is, as legal observers have noted, extraordinarily unlikely.
Sara Chimene-Weiss of Protect Democracy, which has been involved in litigation opposing the voter-data campaign, said the effort is part of a broader strategy to control election infrastructure ahead of the midterms. The administration has separately moved to tie Homeland Security funding to states adopting Trump-preferred election procedures, a policy a former DOJ official said is likely to face court challenges of its own.
Michigan stands alone in having a case resolved at the appellate level. But the legal theory that lost in the Sixth Circuit on Wednesday — Title III as a tool to compel state voter data disclosure — is the same theory the DOJ has deployed in every one of its 30-plus active suits.
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Key Takeaways
- The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 on June 25 that Michigan does not have to turn over its unredacted voter registration file to the DOJ — the first appellate ruling in the Trump administration's nationwide voter-data campaign.
- The court rejected the DOJ's claim under Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960, ruling that a state-maintained voter file does not qualify as a record a state "came into possession of."
- The court also found the DOJ's demand letters failed to include both legally required elements — basis and purpose — in a single request.
- The ruling sets binding precedent in the Sixth Circuit and provides persuasive authority in every other federal circuit where DOJ voter-roll suits remain active.
- The DOJ did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether it will appeal to the Supreme Court.
- A Supreme Court resolution before the November 2026 midterms is considered extremely unlikely given timeline constraints.
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Politics & World News Editor
James Mitchell has covered US and UK politics for over a decade, with a focus on elections, foreign policy, and Capitol Hill. He breaks down complex political stories into clear, fast analysis.
