A federal judge has shut down another Republican effort to gain access to sensitive voter records, handing voting rights advocates a significant victory in the GOP’s ongoing campaign to challenge voter rolls around the country.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Georgette Castner dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Republican National Committee that sought to force New Jersey to turn over confidential voter registration data.
The RNC argued it needed the records to promote “election integrity” and improve election administration. But the court found the party hadn’t even cleared the first legal hurdle.
Castner ruled that the RNC lacked standing to sue because it failed to show how being denied the records caused any concrete injury.
“Plaintiff not only fails to allege concrete plans for how it intends to use the specific records in this case,” Castner wrote, “but it also fails to allege how Defendant’s failure to provide those records impairs its ability to increase voter participation.”
Without that showing, she concluded, the lawsuit couldn’t move forward.
The dispute began after New Jersey Secretary of State Tahesha Way declined to hand over most of the voter information the RNC requested in letters sent in March and June 2025.
Among the records Republicans sought were lists of voters who had requested to be removed from the registration rolls, as well as those who had actually been removed since June 2023.
The RNC claimed the information was “essential” to its efforts to ensure election integrity.
Judge Castner wasn’t persuaded.
In her ruling, she noted that the same legal argument had already been rejected by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in an almost identical case involving Pennsylvania.
That earlier lawsuit was brought by the conservative Public Interest Legal Foundation, which also tried to force state officials to hand over voter records. A federal appeals court dismissed that case as well, finding the organization lacked standing to sue.
Castner said the New Jersey case suffered from the same fundamental problem.
The ruling marks another setback for the broader Republican effort to gain access to voter registration data as part of a nationwide push to scrutinize and purge voter rolls.
In recent months, Republicans and Trump’s Justice Department have pushed similar efforts in multiple states, arguing they are necessary to protect election integrity.
But judges appointed by presidents of both parties have repeatedly rejected those lawsuits, finding that the legal claims often fail to meet basic constitutional requirements before courts can even consider the merits.
Monday’s decision adds New Jersey to the growing list of states where federal courts have refused to let Republicans use the judiciary to obtain sensitive voter information.
