The Department of Justice has lost 22 court cases regarding requests for state voter rolls, including district court and court of appeals decisions.
Posted by The Lawfare Podcast, Checked
- Sources
- 2 support1 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 75%
The Lawfare PodcastSep 14, 2026
The claim matches the record as of the posting date: NBC reported on Aug. 16, 2026 that DOJ had lost 22 voter-roll cases, and The Atlantic (Oct.
A guest makes this claim. Listeners heard it, so it counts against the post, and on the guest's own record.
What was said
… Ah, this, this, as, and this entire litigation, actually, ah, in which DOJ has sued around 30 states for not complying with DOJ's request to, ah, cough up the public, or rather not unredacted private rec voter state voter rules, and so far DOJ is something like zero for 22 in court on, on this issue, and including both district courts and one court of appeals decision. So she may be trying to ratchet up the, the tension here by sending out these letters, saying to states that they are under investigation, or to the, the top election official in each state. …
The Lawfare Podcast · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. NBC News (Aug. 16, 2026) reports Attorney General Todd Blanche was asked about appealing 'the 22 cases the Justice Department has lost so far' over state voter rolls.[1]
Supports. The Atlantic (Oct. 15, 2026) reports DOJ had lost 26 cases in district court with no wins, and that the Sixth Circuit in June was the first appeals court to rule against the government, matching the district-court and one-appeals-decision framing.[2]
Context. Later coverage shows the losing count rising beyond 22 (to 26 by mid-October), so the figure is accurate for the September posting date but not as a current total.[1][2]
Context. Bloomberg Law (July 2026) reported DOJ's 12th straight loss, consistent with a steadily growing count of losses through the summer.[3]
Sources
3 sources: 2 tier 2, 1 not rated
- 1Attorney General Todd Blanche says DOJ may take states' ...nbcnews.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports, context
- 20 for 26: The Trump Administration’s Astonishing Losing Recordtheatlantic.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports, context
- 3DOJ Voter Roll Losses Rise as New York, West Virginia Win (2)news.bloomberglaw.com · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
Related claims
- The Department of Justice has sued 30 states for unredacted voter lists and lost 23 of these cases.True
- The Department of Justice has a record of 0 wins and 23 losses in the voter data cases filed against states.True
- The Department of Justice has a record of zero wins in 23 voter-data cases.True
- The Trump administration has lost 26 lawsuits seeking un-rejected voter rolls from states.True
- The Trump administration has sued 30 states for their voter lists and has lost 23 of the cases and won none.True