July 29, 2026
NEWARK – The New Jersey Institute for Social Justice released the following statement today in response to a federal court’s dismissal of the Department of Justice’s lawsuit to compel New Jersey to hand over private voter registration records for millions of New Jersey voters.
The Institute was granted intervention by the United States District Court, District of New Jersey in United States of America v. Caldwell on April 24.
“We are glad the court saw this lawsuit for exactly what it was – a disgraceful attempt by the federal government to use a law which is meant to protect against racial discrimination in order to perpetuate it,” said Micauri Vargas, Litigation Counsel at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. “Today is a good day for democracy. New Jersey’s voters personal information remains safe from those who would weaponize it against us.”
The Institute’s motion to intervene, filed on behalf of NAACP, NAACP New Jersey State Conference, Salvation and Social Justice, AAPI New Jersey, Returning Citizens Support Group, Association of Black Women Lawyers of New Jersey, Garden State Bar Association, New Jersey Muslim Lawyers Association, People’s Organization for Progress and Edwin Ortiz, argued that the DOJ’s demand for unredacted voter files—including partial Social Security numbers, birth dates and home addresses— was a “blatant perversion” of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (CRA).
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