Judge tosses Trump administration suit to get Nevada voters' personal info

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from the Trump administration that sought to force Nevada to provide voters' driver's license and partial Social Security numbers. It's the latest defeat in the administration's efforts to access states' voter rolls.

U.S. District Court Judge Anne Traum ruled Friday that the Department of Justice (DOJ) efforts to obtain an unredacted version of the state's voter registration list was invalid under federal law. More than 20 other judges have issued similar rulings in other states.

The decision can be appealed to a federal appeals court.

In a statement Friday, Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar (D) called the ruling "a victory for Nevada voters and their right to have their sensitive personal information protected."

Friday's ruling came about a year after the DOJ asked Nevada election officials to provide personally identifiable information for all of the state's registered voters — a move the state's top elections official called an attempt "to intimidate us into turning over protected voter data."

After the state refused to turn over this information, the Trump administration filed a lawsuit in December, arguing the U.S. attorney general has "sweeping power" to obtain voter data from states.

However, Traum — whom President Joe Biden nominated to the bench in 2021 —  didn't see it that way.

In the 12-page ruling issued Friday, she said the U.S. Civil Rights Act — which requires states to keep voter registration lists — does not require state officials to hand over these lists "because it does not cover records created by government officials."

She also determined that the Trump administration did not provide a sufficient "basis and purpose for its request." In its request last summer, officials said it was an effort to assess Nevada's compliance with federal requirements on maintaining voter registration lists, but Traum said the DOJ failed to provide "facts showing a need for an investigation into Nevada's state election system."

Lawyers for the federal government later said their efforts were to comply "with Congress's demand to remove those who are ineligible to vote from their rolls — whether due to illegal presence in this country or otherwise."

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday, but its lawyers have previously argued that judges "misconstrued the text, context, structure, history, and original understanding" of the Civil Rights Act.

Updated on 8/14/26 at 5:40 p.m. to add a statement from the secretary of state.