This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at cpr.org.
A U.S. District Court judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit filed against the state of Colorado by the Trump Administration over access to sensitive voter data.
Denver-based U.S. District Court Judge Philip Brimmer said that the Department of Justice failed to provide a sufficient reason for obtaining unredacted voter information and that the federal government is not entitled to the data under federal law. Brimmer was nominated to the court by George W. Bush in 2008.
“Trump and his DOJ are attacking elections and democracy. We will not let them win,” said Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold in a written statement.
She said the DOJ is unable to refile the claim against Colorado because Brimmer dismissed the case with prejudice.
Last year, the DOJ asked a number of states to turn over all records relating to the 2024 federal election, including sensitive voter information such as driver’s license numbers and the last four digits of Social Security numbers. The state did not comply.
“The DOJ is trying to collect a lot of data on American voters, and they do not have a legal right to the sensitive information they're asking for, and we don't trust what they're trying to do with it,” said Griswold in an interview with CPR News in March.
Even if Griswold agreed to turn over the information, she said state law would prohibit her from doing so. An update to the state’s open records laws in 2024 blocks sensitive personal data like birth dates and signatures from being released publicly.
Griswold and other Democratic election officials from a number of states said they were also concerned the Trump administration would use the information to check voters' citizenship.
Griswold said Colorado gave the DOJ copies of the state’s master voter file, which is already publicly available. The DOJ then sued Colorado to turn over the sensitive voter information.
“Today’s victory affirms that Trump’s DOJ has no right to Coloradans’ sensitive voter information,” Griswold said.
The Trump administration has defended the request for the sensitive data in the suit, claiming accurate voter rolls are the cornerstone of fair and free elections, and that “too many states have fallen into a pattern of noncompliance with basic voter roll maintenance," according to then Attorney General Pam Bondi.
A request for comment from the White House on today’s ruling was not immediately returned.
