RHODE ISLAND — U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy on Friday rejected the Justice Department's effort to force Rhode Island to turn over sensitive voter information, granting the state's request to dismiss the lawsuit. The ruling denied a motion from the Trump administration seeking to compel Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore to hand over unredacted voter data.

In a 14-page decision, McElroy wrote that the government's demand for Rhode Island's voter data lacked any factual allegations suggesting the state may be violating requirements for maintaining voter registration lists. She said the Justice Department's purpose stated in the Attorney General's demand does not plausibly relate to individual voting rights. McElroy was appointed by President Trump during his first term.

The dismissal marks the fifth loss for the Justice Department in its efforts to access state voter registration lists. Judges have previously dismissed similar lawsuits seeking voter registration information from California, Oregon, Michigan and Massachusetts. The Justice Department has sued 30 states and the District of Columbia after officials in those places refused to hand over their voter rolls, which contain names, birth dates, driver's license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.

The Trump administration has claimed it needs the information to ensure states are complying with the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act. A government lawyer told the Rhode Island court that the Justice Department plans to share state voter information with the Department of Homeland Security to check if noncitizens are registered to vote. It is a federal crime for noncitizens to vote in U.S. elections, and instances of noncitizen voting are rare.

The Justice Department first sought Rhode Island's voter registration list in September. Amore offered to provide the publicly available voter list but declined to provide the unredacted voter information, arguing that the data was private and that the federal laws cited by the Justice Department did not authorize the demand.

Amore cheered the ruling in a statement, saying it affirms Rhode Island's position that the Justice Department has no legal right to the state's private voter information. "Voter list maintenance is a responsibility entrusted to the states, and I remain confident in the steps we take here in Rhode Island to keep our list as accurate as possible. The executive branch seems to have no problem taking actions that are clear Constitutional overreaches, regularly meddling in responsibilities that are the rights of the states," Amore said.

"When the Trump Administration tries to act superior to those other branches to violate the rights of Rhode Island voters, we will challenge it. And the courts will uphold the rule of law," he said.