Federal Judges Quietly Side-Eye DOJ’s Voter Data Fishing Expedition

KEY POINTS

•Federal judge Philip Brimmer dismissed the DOJ’s request for Colorado voter data, rejecting 'sweeping power' claims.
•The DOJ lost similar cases in 20 states, with judges calling demands illegal or mere 'fishing expeditions.'
•Some states shared limited voter data, while ICE and FBI obtained individual files unilaterally during the ongoing saga.

In what’s starting to feel like The DOJ’s Election Integrity Tour of Unwanted Data, Judge Philip Brimmer, a George W. Bush appointee, dismissed the DOJ’s demand to grab Colorado’s voter lists—complete with drivers’ license digits and Social Security tease numbers—calling it not covered by the Civil Rights Act of 1960. This legal ‘lottery of losses’ includes 20 court strikes against the DOJ’s data collection mania, labeled from 'unprecedented and illegal' in California to ‘fishing expedition’ in Rhode Island, with even a Trump appointee slapping that label. Meanwhile, over a dozen states politely passed the DOJ a few publicly available scraps, but many ghosts powered on resist, leaving Trump’s legal dream team stuck in data limbo. To spice things up, ICE and FBI casually snatched individual voter files and IP addresses like party crashers, because why collect at scale when you can lurk cyber-ally? And yes, that SAVE America Act push rests in Senate purgatory, and mail-in voting restrictions flirt with Supreme Court drama. It’s less election investigation and more episode of ‘Who Wants To Hand Over Private Info?’ starring a DOJ with the subtlety of a sold-out mall Santa’s whisper wish list.