DSCC, DCCC and DGA Sue Trump, DOJ and DHS in D.D.C. to Stop Voter-Roll Demands and Threats to Election Officials

On October 20, three national Democratic committees, the Senate and House Democratic leaders, the Nevada State Democratic Party and a California voter filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (DSCC v. Trump, No. 1:26-cv-03674) against President Trump, the Justice Department, Attorney General Blanche, DHS and Secretary Mullin. They seek declaratory and injunctive relief against the administration’s demands that states remove voters from their rolls, refuse or segregate ballots, and against threats to state election officials. It pleads ultra vires executive action (Count I), a vertical separation-of-powers violation (Count II), an anticommandeering violation (Count III) and a Voting Rights Act section 11(b) violation (Count IV). The complaint alleges DHS said it had found nearly 16,000 noncitizens on Nevada’s rolls, cut that to just 185 voters, and did not substantiate the narrower claim after Nevada officials indicated every single one appeared to be a citizen. It alleges California was told on 48 hours’ notice to refuse ballots to more than 20,000 registered voters, and that Los Angeles County’s sample review found more than a quarter of the entries listed a birthplace within the United States. It quotes the President saying California officials “will all go to jail.” It opens: “None of this is lawful.” The Justice Department’s spokeswoman told the Post that every action it has taken is “grounded in the law and being litigated in open court.”

This is a new D.D.C. case, separate from the polling-place suit 2026-09-23–dscc-dccc-dga-sue-trump-admin-armed-agents-polling-places and its consolidation track 2026-10-16–all-parties-tell-alikhan-consolidation-appropriate-lulac-naacp-dscc-polling-place-suits-joint-status-report. It lands the day after DOJ’s California TRO application 2026-10-19–doj-seeks-tro-us-v-california-sworn-dhs-declarations-describe-how-20000-voter-list-was-built and rests on the Nevada record in 2026-09-23–nevada-writes-dhs-its-records-show-all-185-flagged-voters-were-citizens. Only a complaint is on the docket as read for this entry; no ruling, motion for preliminary relief or government response exists yet.