A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that a privacy group lacks the legal standing to sue President Trump’s voter fraud commission over its collection of voter roll data.
The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected the lawsuit from the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which sought to block the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity from collecting voter roll information from states, including birth dates, addresses, political affiliations and partial Social Security numbers.
EPIC argued the commission violated the E-Government Act because it failed to conduct and publish a "privacy impact assessment," as required under the 2002 law, and asked the court to stop the collection of the voter data.
In her opinion, Judge Karen Henderson said the group lacks standing because EPIC is neither a voter nor does it have a “traditional membership, let alone members who are voters.” Henderson, appointed by President George H.W. Bush, also ruled the organization “has suffered no informational or organizational injury from the defendants’ failure to produce an assessment.”
The privacy group initially asked a district court to issue a preliminary injunction prohibiting the voter fraud commission from collecting the voter data unless the assessment was completed, but EPIC’s request was denied.
Trump created the voter fraud panel in May after claiming he lost the popular vote because millions of people illegally voted in the election.
The panel, led by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, has been under scrutiny for its lack of transparency. Opponents of the commission were also concerned Trump created the panel to suppress voter turnout.
Kobach sent a letter to states in June asking for “publicly available voter roll data,” but many state officials denied the request.
