Judge blocks federal sharing of suspected-noncitizen voter lists
Where it stands
Nationwide preliminary injunction and Section 705 stay in force; federal defendants barred from further sharing suspected-noncitizen voter lists with state and local election officials, subject to SAVE and prosecution exceptions; case continues.
Sources reviewed: Nov 3, 2026 · 3:01 PM EST
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan granted the League of Women Voters and Electronic Privacy Information Center a nationwide preliminary injunction in League of Women Voters v. Department of Homeland Security, No. 1:26-cv-03602.
Her November 2 order bars the federal defendants and their agents from further disclosing or transmitting to state and local election officials data purporting to be lists of potential or actual noncitizen voters or registered voters. The court also stayed the administration's Voter Data Transmission Policy under 5 U.S.C. § 705.
The relief is preliminary, not a final judgment.
The response.
The 30-page memorandum found the plaintiffs likely to succeed on claims that the bulk voter-data disclosures violated the Privacy Act's notice and disclosure rules. The government argued that it was enforcing federal law and preventing noncitizen voting. Chutkan recognized the government's election-integrity interest but found no record evidence of significant fraud and concluded that the asserted routine-use and law-enforcement exceptions did not justify the bulk disclosures on the current record. The order still permits officials to answer individual citizenship or immigration-status inquiries through the SAVE system and to prosecute federal crimes. It required a compliance status report within 24 hours and a $1 bond by November 4. In separate California litigation, the en banc Ninth Circuit reinstated the government's stay of an election-worker protection order November 3 after the earlier panel stay had briefly been vacated. That appellate order does not stay or supersede Chutkan's different injunction.
Dates & scope
Source publication: Nov 3, 2026 · 3:01 PM EST
Event or conduct: 2026-11-02.
Full chronology and review notes
Judge Tanya Chutkan signed and filed the two-page order and 30-page memorandum opinion November 2. Reuters published its ruling report late November 2. The Ledger reviewed the complete primary order and opinion, current reporting and the latest public docket information November 3 at 3:01 p.m. EST. The court's filing date, news publication date, Ledger publication date and source-review date are distinct.
This is a dated report. The source-review time records when the linked sources were checked; it is not a live update.
Coverage is non-exhaustive. Our source-review standards →
Open the original record.
- U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia via CourtListener: Order, League of Women Voters v. Department of Homeland Security, No. 1:26-cv-03602-TSC, Dkt. 30 ↗
Primary November 2 order granting preliminary relief, staying the voter-data transmission policy and stating the SAVE and federal-prosecution exceptions
- U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia via CourtListener: Memorandum Opinion, League of Women Voters v. Department of Homeland Security, No. 1:26-cv-03602-TSC, Dkt. 31 ↗
Primary 30-page November 2 opinion addressing Privacy Act likelihood of success, irreparable harm, equities and nationwide scope
- Reuters: Judge blocks Trump administration from pressuring states over noncitizen voting ↗
November 2 ruling report describing the order, the government's position and the wider election-litigation context
- Just Security: The Trump Administration's Efforts to Obtain State Voter Data ↗
Litigation tracker updated for the November 2 injunction, its nationwide scope and its SAVE exception
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit: En banc order reinstating stay, SEIU v. Department of Justice, No. 26-7303 ↗
Primary November 3 order reinstating the panel stay in the separate California election-worker case and superseding the November 2 vacatur
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