A federal judge appointed by President Donald Trump threw out the Justice Department's lawsuit demanding Utah's full, unredacted voter list on Friday, October 23, ruling that the law the department relied on does not reach it, Democracy Docket reported.
Source: Democracy Docket — Trump-appointed judge delivers DOJ its 27th straight loss (Oct 23, 2026)
U.S. District Judge David Barlow dismissed the case, United States v. Henderson, No. 2:26-cv-00166 in the District of Utah, with prejudice — meaning the department cannot refile it there — and denied its motion to force Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, Utah's Republican elections chief, to hand over the data. Barlow granted motions to dismiss filed by Henderson, the NAACP and the League of Women Voters of Utah, according to Utah reporting on the ruling.
Awaaz Punjab reported on October 21 that Henderson had refused the DOJ demand for the full voter data and said she had been told she was under investigation. Friday's ruling ends that lawsuit. Read the earlier story
The department sued in February after Henderson withheld the private parts of the voter file — dates of birth, driver's license numbers and the last four digits of Social Security numbers — offered the public voter list instead, and argued state privacy law barred her from sharing the rest, KSL reported. In September, the department told her in a letter that she was under investigation for refusing, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.
The department invoked Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960, which lets the attorney general inspect election records that 'come into' an election officer's possession. Barlow ruled that Utah's voter list does not qualify, because Henderson's office develops, manages and maintains it. 'An ordinary English speaker would not say that she has come into possession of something that she created, established, and maintained,' Barlow wrote, adopting reasoning the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals used to reject a similar department suit seeking Michigan's voter rolls.
What is solid
- Judge David Barlow, nominated by President Trump in 2019, dismissed United States v. Henderson with prejudice on October 23 and denied DOJ's motion to compel production of Utah's complete voter-registration database.
- Barlow held that Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 does not cover Utah's statewide list because Henderson's office creates and maintains it, so it is not a record that 'comes into' her possession; he also found that letting DOJ amend its complaint would be futile and noted Title III was enacted to combat voter suppression.
- The ruling was DOJ's 27th consecutive district-court loss in its voter-roll campaign; CBS News has reported the department sued 30 states and Washington, D.C., for voter data.
What is only claimed
- DOJ has argued in these cases that Title III entitles the attorney general to inspect the full records; Barlow rejected that reading in Utah, and DOJ did not immediately respond to KSL's request for comment on the ruling or say whether it will appeal.
- Henderson has said she is under a DOJ investigation for refusing the demand — a claim reported by The Salt Lake Tribune; the dismissal ends the civil lawsuit, and the reporting reviewed did not resolve the separate investigation question.
Henderson said the ruling ended a lawsuit that 'sought to force us to disclose the private data of every Utah voter,' and marked the result on social media with '0-27'. The ruling came a day after the department told Henderson it would send election monitors to Utah for the November midterms, Utah reporting said. With Election Day on November 3, Utah voters' birth dates and ID numbers stay out of federal hands unless an appeal changes the outcome.