Attorney General Ellison wins dismissal of Trump Administration lawsuit demanding Minnesota’s voter rolls

Court rules federal government does not have the right to go on a ‘fishing expedition’ to see whether Minnesota has not maintained its voter rolls when it made no allegation that Minnesota failed to do so

Trump Administration now 0-23 nationally in its lawsuits demanding states hand over the entirety of their voter rolls, including sensitive private information

August 17, 2026 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison hailed the decision today of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota to dismiss the Trump Administration’s 2025 lawsuit demanding that the State of Minnesota and Secretary Simon turn over the entirety of Minnesota’s voter rolls, known as the Statewide Voter Registration List (SVRL), including voters’ personal and sensitive nonpublic information. Attorney General Ellison’s office successfully defended Secretary Simon and the State in this lawsuit and filed a motion with the court to dismiss the lawsuit, which the court granted today.

“Minnesota runs the highest-turnout, most secure, and frankly best elections in America, and the Trump Administration had no legal right to our unredacted voters rolls with Minnesotans’ sensitive personal information. I’m gratified the court properly found the Trump Administration’s lawsuit to be the improper fishing expedition it clearly was from the start, and dismissed this case as we asked it to,” Attorney General Ellison said. “I was proud to defend Secretary Simon and the State of Minnesota in this lawsuit and it’s no coincidence that Trump has now lost the same lawsuit 23 times in a row.”

“My responsibility to Minnesota voters starts and ends with the law,” Secretary of State Simon said. “The private data entrusted to my office does not belong to the federal government, and I’m pleased that the judge agreed. This ruling should be a relief to Minnesotans, as it was to residents in the 21 other states plus the District of Columbia, where the DOJ has lost in court in its sweeping attempt to collect voters’ private information.”

The federal government alleged claims under the Civil Rights Act of 1960 and the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). The court soundly rejected both claims. It ruled that nothing in the text of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 gives the federal government the right to voter-registration lists. The court noted that nothing supported the federal government’s claim that the Civil Rights Act is a “freewheeling source of authority for the [U.S.] Attorney General.” As to the HAVA claim, the court similarly concluded that the federal government sought to undertake a “fishing expedition.” HAVA requires states to maintain its voter-registration lists and the court concluded that the federal government offered no evidence that Minnesota had not done so. The court observed that “an ordinary litigant isn’t allowed to seek discovery first and allege a claim later, and the federal government has no special privilege to do so either.”

Today’s loss in federal court in Minnesotan marks the 23rd consecutive loss for the Trump Administration in courts around the country where it has demanded the entirety of states’ voter rolls. Prior to today, federal courts in Michigan, Oregon, California, Maryland, Colorado, Wisconsin, Maine, Arizona, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Illinois, New Jersey, Kentucky, Virginia, New York, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, the District of Columbia, and Nevada have dismissed the Trump Administration’s demands for unredacted statewide voter registration lists. The one appellate court to review the issue has also rejected the Trump Administration’s claims.

The Trump Administration has not yet succeeded in a single one of these lawsuits.