Judge Orders Justice Department to Name by Noon Friday Every State It Asked to Remove Voters or Set Aside Ballots
A federal judge in Washington has ordered the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security to tell him, by noon Friday, every state where they have asked election officials since July 1 to remove specific registered voters from the rolls, refuse to issue them ballots or set their ballots aside.
Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg issued the order Thursday in DSCC v. Trump, a lawsuit filed Oct. 20 by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic Governors Association, the Nevada State Democratic Party, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries and a naturalized citizen who votes in California. The plaintiffs are asking the court to block the administration from pressing states on voter rolls and ballots before the Nov. 3 election.
What the Justice Department Must Answer
According to the court docket, Boasberg granted the plaintiffs' request for fast-track discovery only in part. The government must answer one written question, Interrogatory No. 1, covering July 1 to the present. The plaintiffs may file more arguments on standing by Saturday, the government may respond by Sunday, and the judge said he will rule by Monday, Nov. 2.
The question, filed with the plaintiffs' motion, asks the government to identify all states where it sent election officials communications "demanding or requesting" that they remove specific voters, refuse to issue them ballots, or "segregate, or otherwise not count and tabulate" their ballots for the Nov. 3 election. The plaintiffs define the government to include every U.S. attorney's office, ICE, Homeland Security Investigations, Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, but not the president. A second question, about states the government intends to contact, was not part of Thursday's order.
The order adds that the government "may moot this process at any time" by filing a notice that it will not engage in the challenged conduct in connection with the upcoming election.
The Government's Position
In a 53-page response filed Wednesday, government lawyers said its letters to states "are not self-executing" and that it would need an order from a federal court "to compel any state or locality to do anything at all." They argued the plaintiffs lack standing because any harm depends on "a speculative chain of hypotheticals," and said the request would stop the government from enforcing a federal law that bars noncitizens from voting in federal elections.
The filing says Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin wrote to California, Nevada and Pennsylvania on July 16 that a preliminary review found several thousand possible noncitizens registered in each state, and that all three declined to act and asked for more information. It says Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter wrote to California and Los Angeles County on Oct. 13 about more than 20,000 people the government believes are highly likely noncitizens.
A sworn declaration filed with the response, from a USCIS fraud detection official, says the list was built from California's voter roll and narrowed by Homeland Security Investigations. It states that the naturalized-citizen plaintiff is not on that list and has been a citizen since 2006.
At Thursday's hearing, Boasberg questioned whether the plaintiffs have standing. "I don't doubt you have legitimate concerns," he said, according to the Associated Press. "The harder question for me is your standing to do it." Justice Department lawyer Christian Dibblee said what states do with the letters is "up to them," the AP reported.
A State's Response in the Record
On Thursday, the plaintiffs added an Oct. 28 letter from Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs to the record. Hobbs wrote that a Justice Department letter dated Oct. 26 asked him to tell election officials not to count ballots from voters on an attached list. He said the list "includes United States citizens and is not reliable," came as a printed PDF without voter ID numbers or addresses, contained duplicates, and gave the date of Election Day as Nov. 2. Those are the secretary's assertions; the Justice Department's view of the Washington list is not in the court record.
The government's answer was not on the public docket as of Friday morning.
Sources: DSCC v. Trump, No. 1:26-cv-03674 (D.D.C.), docket including the Oct. 29, 2026 minute order, Interrogatories (ECF 16-2), government response and USCIS declaration (ECF 25, 25-1) and Washington Secretary of State letter (ECF 27-2): https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/74994590/dscc-v-trump/ ; Associated Press via Orlando Sentinel, "Judge presses the Trump administration for details" (Oct. 29, 2026): https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2026/10/29/election-2026-democratic-lawsuit/ ; Washington Secretary of State: https://www.sos.wa.gov/about-office/news/2026/washington-secretary-state-steve-hobbs-response-doj-letter-about-voter-rolls . Cover photo: E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse by G. Edward Johnson via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
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