Delaware district judge rejects Trump’s DOJ attempt to obtain the state’s voting data

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A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice that sought Delaware’s unredacted voter registration data.

The justice department had filed suit in December seeking a court order to compel state Elections Commissioner Anthony Albence to produce those records after the state refused the federal government’s July 2025 request to voluntarily hand over the data.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Andrews said the federal government failed to make its case that it needed all of Delaware’s voter information to ensure compliance with the Civil Rights Act of 1960. The data included Social Security numbers, dates of birth and addresses.

The U.S. DOJ said the information from all states was needed to ensure election integrity. But Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings told WHYY News in a statement that the DOJ’s request was “illegal” and an example of “federal overreach.”

“The states — not the president — run elections,” she said. “It’s our job to keep voters’ data safe and we’re not backing down.”

Tuesday’s legal decision is the DOJ’s latest defeat in its pursuit to obtain sensitive information on voters, said Elisabeth Frost, litigation chair at Elias Law Group, in a statement.

Frost represented Beth Jennings, director of Widener University’s Delaware Law School, and Middletown resident Gemma Lowery. They, along with several Delaware nonprofit organizations, were allowed to intervene in the case.

“With today’s ruling, every single one of the federal district courts with active cases — 28 in total — has rejected the attempt by President Trump’s Department of Justice to turn a law intended to protect civil rights into a tool to seize Americans’ private voter data,” she said.