trump has lost 6 of these cases. The trump DOJ has no authority for its position and so is making up authority by citing a DOJ legal memo. I was coming home from a meeting and I heard Ari Melber and Professor Mellissa Murray laugh at this stunt.
Trump DOJ Cites Its Own Legal Memo to Defend Voter Roll Demands on Eve of Appeal | Democracy Docket
— r/protectUSelections (@protectuselections.bsky.social) 2026-05-12T23:21:25.399760+00:00
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/trump-doj-cites-its-own-legal-memo-to-defend-voter-roll-demands-on-eve-of-appeal/
With a key appeal looming, the Department of Justice cited an unusual source to defend its sweeping voter roll demands: itself.
In a filing Tuesday, just one day before oral arguments in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, DOJ submitted a newly issued internal legal opinion as “supplemental authority” — a memo written by its own Office of Legal Counsel and published the same day it was filed.
The department told the court the memo supports its argument that the Civil Rights Act of 1960 allows DOJ to force states to hand over unredacted statewide voter registration lists and then share that data with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).....
Rather than pointing the appeals court to a new ruling from another court backing its position, DOJ pointed to a legal opinion it wrote for itself that same day.
In other words, with real legal precedent in short supply, DOJ is now citing its own homework and asking the court to treat it like the answer key.
The OLC opinion concludes that DOJ has authority to compel states to produce voter registration lists, even if the department plans to share them with DHS or another federal unit.....
For now, DOJ is heading into argument with a legal strategy that amounts to asking the court to trust DOJ’s view of DOJ’s power — even after multiple courts have already said no.
DOJ also cited its own opinion in the Ninth Circuit in its appeal to cases out of California and Oregon.
I agree with Marc Elias on this stunt
This is so pathetic. DOJ is 0-6 in lawsuits to gain access to state voter roles. It couldn't find any legal authority for its claims so it wrote its own memo to cite to the 6th Circuit. SAD!
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