SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson's lawyers are firing back at the U.S. Department of Justice in a new court filing.
On Wednesday, the Utah Attorney General's Office filed a notice of supplemental authority in the Justice Department's lawsuit against Henderson seeking access to Utah voter records. It went state-by-state, pointing out similar lawsuits filed for voter records have all been dismissed. There were six within the past three weeks alone.
"Sixteen federal courts have now ruled against Plaintiff’s CRA claims (and none for them)," assistant Utah Solicitor General Mark Gillespie wrote. "This Court should dismiss Plaintiff’s complaint with prejudice."
In February, the Trump administration sued Lt. Gov. Henderson, who is Utah's top elections official, seeking access to voter roll information after she refused to hand over anything that wasn't already publicly accessible. Lt. Gov. Henderson has maintained the DOJ wants Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers and birth dates of voters and she is prohibited by state and federal law from releasing it.
The Justice Department has asked a federal judge in Salt Lake City to compel Lt. Gov. Henderson to hand over the information, arguing in court papers that it is entitled to it under the law and seeking to "trust but verify" to ensure "election integrity." Other groups, including the NAACP and the League of Women Voters of Utah, have jumped into the lawsuit arguing the DOJ is seeking to build a national database of who is eligible to vote. The Democratic National Committee has even filed in the lawsuit siding with Lt. Gov. Henderson, a Republican.
Recently, Lt. Gov. Henderson disclosed she received a letter warning of the potential of criminal prosecution. So far, U.S. District Court Judge David Barlow has yet to schedule a hearing in the case.
Read the Utah Attorney General's filing here:
