WA asks federal judge to toss DOJ lawsuit seeking private voter info

Late last year, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs over his refusal to hand over private information about the state's 5 million registered voters.

Now, lawyers for the state are asking a federal judge to toss the case, calling it a lawless demand" and part of a Trump administration effort to build a "shadow national voter registration list."

The Justice Department has filed similar lawsuits against dozens of states, but has been on a legal losing streak.

Washington's motion to dismiss, filed earlier this month, notes that every federal court to consider similar Justice Department lawsuits against states so far has rejected them.

The DOJ is 0-for-6, with courts dismissing the Trump administration's lawsuits demanding voter information from California, Oregon, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Michigan and Arizona.

"This Court should do the same and reject DOJ's efforts to turn a critical civil rights tool for eliminating election discrimination into a weapon of mass voter suppression," wrote attorneys representing Hobbs, led by deputy state solicitor general Tera Heintz, in a May 11 motion.

The Justice Department lawsuit against Hobbs asserts that the federal government has "sweeping power" under the federal Civil Rights Act to obtain the information to ensure that the state is purging ineligible voters from its rolls as required by law.

Justice Department officials first asked Hobbs for Washington's full set of voter registration data - including full names, addresses, birth dates and driver's license or partial Social Security numbers - in a letter last September.

That letter was signed by Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, which in Trump's second term has shifted its traditional focus on protecting the voting rights to investigating allegations of voter fraud.

Hobbs refused to give over the full data, citing privacy concerns and saying that federal and state law do not compel the state to hand over the private information to the federal government.

The Justice Department sued the state in December, naming Hobbs in a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for Western Washington. Then-U. S. Attorney General Pam Bondi characterized the action as about maintaining "accurate voter rolls" that are "the cornerstone of fair and free elections."

In all, the DOJ has sued 30 states and the District of Columbia for refusing to provide their full voter lists including driver's license and Social Security numbers, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

Critics of the Trump administration effort say it's linked to Trump's broader campaign to spread falsehoods about voter fraud, seize control of elections and restrict mail-in balloting across the country, particularly in Democratic-leaning states and cities.

The lawsuit against Hobbs has been plagued with problems from the start.

It was initially filed incorrectly and federal attorneys failed for months to properly serve notice of the lawsuit, leading a federal magistrate judge to demand in March that the Justice Department explain why she should not dismiss the case.

Eric Neff, acting chief of the Voting Rights section for the Justice Department, apologized for the errors in a March 23 court filing, and the case was allowed to proceed.

In recent weeks, some national and state Democratic Party allies and voting rights advocates have filed court motions supporting Hobbs' efforts to have the case dismissed.

The Justice Department's stated reason for trying to get Washington voter data is fake, argues a motion filed May 20 by lawyers for Common Cause and Washington Conservation Action.

Instead of trying to enforce federal law, the Trump administration's goal is to "amass the data of tens of millions of voters so it can expand its own role into election administration beyond constitutional limits," the motion argues.

Mike Faulk, a spokesperson for state Attorney General Nick Brown, said a decision on the state's motion to dismiss the lawsuit is expected at some point after June 22, when legal briefings for the motion are due.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department has appealed dismissals in other states.

Last week, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the department's appeals of its losses in California and Oregon.

The justices appeared skeptical of the Justice Department's justifications for obtaining those states' voter data, according to a report in the Washington Examiner, a conservative news outlet.

"Ninth Circuit likely adds to DOJ losing streak over state voter roll lawsuits, the Examiner headline about the hearing said.

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This story was originally published May 25, 2026 at 6:37 AM.