United States of America v. Jena Griswold

The ACLU of Colorado moved to intervene on behalf of Common Cause and individual Colorado voters in a federal lawsuit over the federal government’s demand that Colorado turn over its entire voter registration rolls, including voters’ sensitive personal data.

In May 2025, the Department of Justice sent a letter demanding that the Secretary of State of Colorado, Jena Griswold, produce to the federal government statewide voter registration databases. The federal government’s requests for private, sensitive voter data appears to be in connection with never-before-seen efforts by the United States to construct a national voter database, and to otherwise use untested forms of database matching to scrutinize voter rolls.

Rightfully fearing that providing this sensitive information to the federal government could allow for the undermining of elections in Colorado, the Secretary of State’s office declined to turn over the requested data. The United States responded by filing this lawsuit, which is one of at least twenty-two similar suits across the country in which the federal government is seeking disclosure of sensitive voter data.

The ACLU of Colorado and the ACLU’s National Voting Rights Project filed a Motion to Intervene and a Motion to Dismiss on behalf of individual Colorado voters and the non-partisan organization, Common Cause, which is committed to voter engagement. Intervenors argue that the federal government’s demand violates Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 because in making this sweeping demand for Colorado’s full and unredacted state voter registration list, the United States fails to offer a statutorily sufficient statement of “the basis and the purpose” in support of its records requests. Through this action, Intervenors seek to prevent the federal government from forcing Colorado to turn over the entirety of its voter registration database and to protect sensitive data within the voter rolls. On July 8, 2026, the Court granted the Motion to Intervene.

On August 4, 2026, the Court denied the United States' Motion to Compel and granted the ACLU's Motion to Dismiss along with ones filed by Secretary Griswold and another intervening party. This decision joins 19 other federal court rulings denying the Trump administration access to voters’ private sensitive data on the state voter rolls.

“Trump Administration Sues to Get Colorado Voter Records,” CPR News, December 11, 2025.

“Department of Justice Sues Colorado for Refusing to Provide Sensitive Information on Voters,” CBS News, December 12, 2025.