United States v. Board of Elections of the State of New York

Since 2025, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has demanded that states turn over sensitive voter information, including Social Security and driver’s license numbers. Most states have refused. So far, every federal court to hear the DOJ’s argument has dismissed the case.

Now, on behalf of 41 local governments and election officials, Public Rights Project has filed an amicus brief urging the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm the dismissal of the DOJ’s case in New York. 

The brief explains why the DOJ’s demand fails to satisfy the Civil Rights Act’s requirements for a proper purpose and sufficient basis, and why courts must review expansive federal requests for sensitive election records. It also highlights the practical and legal concerns these demands raise for local election officials, including:

• Surges in public record requests, including ones from the DOJ, place an unnecessary burden on local election officials and threaten to impede their ability to run an election. 
• An executive order directing the U.S. Attorney General to prioritize prosecuting local election officials over list maintenance duties.
• A sweeping request that amounts to a fishing expedition rather than a targeted inquiry into New York’s list maintenance program.
• New York’s election officials have met their list maintenance requirements under the National Voter Registration Act or Help America Vote Act.

For these reasons, we urge the court to affirm the dismissal.

Public Rights Project also filed similar briefs in the First, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeals to defend local authority in California, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The briefs provide courts with the perspectives of election officials who are responsible for maintaining voter registration systems and responding to federal requests for election records.

Read the amicus brief.