Former U.S. DOJ attorneys sue, saying DOJ's request for voter information is unlawful

MINNESOTA, USA — Sixteen former attorneys who worked for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit Thursday, stating the DOJ's request for Minnesota voter information is unlawful.

Back in January, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to Minnesota officials saying that it would "bring an end to chaos in Minnesota" if they would agree to three requests - one of which would give federal officials access to state voter information. Secretary of State Steve Simon called the request to access citizens' private data "outrageous."

“The answer to Attorney General Bondi’s request is no," Simon wrote.

In court documents, the attorneys stated the DOJ has overstepped its legal bounds by requesting "all fields" of Minnesota's voter registration list, including partial Social Security numbers and driver's license numbers. The lawsuit claims the DOJ does not have a sufficient reason or purpose for collecting this information.

The DOJ's stated purpose for collecting voter information is to enforce the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which is a law that provides funding for states to conduct the voting process. In the lawsuit, attorneys alleged that this was just a cover for the Trump administration's true goal.

"That purpose appears to be a stalking horse for its true purpose: to enable the federal government to conduct its own list maintenance to discover whether noncitizens or undocumented immigrants are registered to vote. That purpose cannot justify the requests for sensitive data here. HAVA places States—not the federal government—in charge of developing and maintaining voter registration lists," the lawsuit reads.