{"id":638036,"date":"2026-07-19T19:10:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T19:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=638036"},"modified":"2026-07-19T19:10:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T19:10:00","slug":"judge-dismisses-dojs-new-mexico-voter-data-request","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=638036","title":{"rendered":"Judge Dismisses DOJ&#8217;s New Mexico Voter Data Request"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden\">Judge Dismisses DOJ&#8217;s New Mexico Voter Data Request<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item\">\n<article>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/judge-dismisses-dojs-new-mexico-voter-data-request-6063943\">Authored by Kimberly Hayek via The Epoch Times<\/a>,<\/em><\/p>\n<p>A federal judge on July 14 <strong>rejected the Justice Department&#8217;s attempt to obtain the private personal data of every registered voter in New Mexico<\/strong>, adding to the overall number of cases the DOJ has lost in which it has sought similar information.<\/p>\n<p><a data-image-external-href=\"\" data-image-href=\"\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/image_80%28842%29.jpg?itok=DZ-byzzw\" data-link-option=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/cms.zerohedge.com\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/image_80%28842%29.jpg?itok=DZ-byzzw\"><\/a><\/p>\n<figure role=\"group\" class=\"caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" data-entity-type=\"file\" data-entity-uuid=\"daa6181a-5159-433c-9334-cb64e59b65fa\" data-responsive-image-style=\"inline_images\" height=\"333\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.zerohedge.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_mobile\/public\/inline-images\/image_80%28842%29.jpg?itok=DZ-byzzw\" width=\"500\" \/><figcaption><em>The U.S. Department of Justice in Washington on Aug. 7, 2025. Madalina Kilroy\/The Epoch Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>U.S. District Judge Judith C. Herrera <a href=\"https:\/\/nmdoj.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/119-Memorandum-Opinion-and-Ord-Granting-Defds-MTD-w-Prejudice-7-14-26.pdf\">dismissed<\/a> the latest voter roll lawsuit, ruling that <strong>the department&#8217;s demand letter lacked facts, proof of a pattern of violations, and explanations of necessity.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The court found that &#8220;the DOJ&#8217;s Demand Letter fails because it altogether lacks an identifiable &#8216;basis.&#8217; Nowhere does the DOJ articulate any factual suggestion that New Mexico has violated the NVRA [National Voter Registration Act] or HAVA [Help America Vote Act], indicate the State has a pattern or practice of noncompliance with the same, nor does it explain how the unredacted PII is necessary to evaluate compliance with the NVRA and HAVA.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The DOJ did not immediately return a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver approved of the court&#8217;s decision.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I am pleased with the court&#8217;s decision to dismiss this case. <strong>Federal and state legal guardrails on social security numbers and dates of birth exist for the identity protection of every voter in our state,&#8221;<\/strong> she said.<\/p>\n<p>She doubled down on the security practices deployed under her leadership.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I absolutely will not risk any disclosure of voters&#8217; private data, as it could carry very real and severe consequences for the personal lives of New Mexicans participating in our democratic process,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Justice Department has now been barred in 14 similar cases nationwide<\/strong>, failing to obtain unredacted voter files via these lawsuits from states that declined its requests, according to Oliver.<\/p>\n<p>A federal judge on June 29 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/federal-judge-dismisses-dojs-lawsuit-seeking-access-to-new-hampshire-voter-rolls-6055129\">threw<\/a> out the Justice Department&#8217;s lawsuit against New Hampshire. The state refused to disclose its unredacted statewide voter registration lists.<\/p>\n<p>In a 26-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante stated that <strong>those state-generated voter records fall outside those documents the federal government can demand<\/strong> under Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960.<\/p>\n<p>In April, judges dismissed similar cases in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/federal-judge-dismisses-doj-lawsuit-requesting-arizona-voter-data-6018813\">Arizona<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/federal-judge-dismisses-doj-request-for-massachusetts-voter-rolls-6010005\">Massachusetts<\/a>. In February, a judge <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/federal-judge-rejects-dojs-request-for-michigan-voter-data-5983376\">rejected<\/a> a DOJ request for similar information in Michigan.<\/p>\n<p>In January, a federal judge in Oregon <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/judge-dismisses-justice-departments-suit-seeking-oregon-voter-rolls-5977083\">ruled<\/a> along similar lines. U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai dismissed the Justice Department&#8217;s suit requesting Oregon&#8217;s list of registered voters. During a videoconference hearing, he granted the defendants&#8217; motion to dismiss the case.<\/p>\n<p>The department alleged that Oregon&#8217;s refusal violated the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and the Civil Rights Act of 1960.<\/p>\n<p>The Justice Department <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/justice-department-sues-6-more-states-for-withholding-voter-rolls-5952999\">filed lawsuits<\/a> against six states in December 2025.<\/p>\n<p><em>Aldgra Fredley contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<p>      <span class=\"field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden\"><a title=\"View user profile.\" href=\"https:\/\/cms.zerohedge.com\/users\/tyler-durden\" lang=\"\" class=\"username\" xml:lang=\"\">Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden\">Sun, 07\/19\/2026 &#8211; 15:10<\/span><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.zerohedge.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_mobile\/public\/inline-images\/image_80%28842%29.jpg?itok=DZ-byzzw\" title=\"Judge Dismisses DOJ&apos;s New Mexico Voter Data Request\" \/><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Judge Dismisses DOJ&#8217;s New Mexico Voter Data Request Authored by Kimberly Hayek via The Epoch Times, A federal judge on July 14 rejected the Justice Department&#8217;s attempt to obtain the private personal data of every registered voter in New Mexico, adding to the overall number of cases the DOJ has lost in which it has&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=638036\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Judge Dismisses DOJ&#8217;s New Mexico Voter Data Request<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":638037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,22,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-638036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-border-security","category-immigration","category-immigration-reform","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=638036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/638037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=638036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=638036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=638036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}