Macon judge dismisses Trump administration's suit against Raffensperger
A federal judge ruled Friday that the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger over voting records cannot proceed in Macon federal court, according to court records.
Raffensperger was sued by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, who heads the DOJ’s civil rights division, on Dec. 19, 2025, after he refused to provide detailed voter information. But Judge C. Ashley Royal dismissed the case Friday, ruling that the records Dhillon requested aren’t located in Macon, but in Atlanta.
Dhillon was conducting a nationwide investigation to ensure that the states, including Georgia, were complying with voter registration list management requirements. She asked Raffensperger to provide voting records that included names, birthdates, partial Social Security numbers, residential addresses, and state driver’s license numbers.
Raffensperger provided some of the records. However, it excluded “sensitive information that implicates special privacy concerns,” according to his attorney, Charlene McGowan, in a letter to the DOJ. Raffensperger did so because providing detailed voter information would go against Georgia’s privacy laws.
Dhillon then sued, hoping a judge would order Raffensperger to produce the voting records for her. She claimed in a video posted to her Instagram account that the privacy claims are “total nonsense” and that she’s trying to confirm that registered voters are U.S. citizens.
Judge: Suit should be filed in North Georgia, not in Middle Georgia
The Middle District of Georgia federal jurisdiction in Macon “may not hear a case where the court lacks jurisdiction over the subject matter of the dispute,” especially when the demanded records are not located in the area, according to Judge C. Ashley Royal.
Dhillon attempted to argue that the jurisdiction is correct because an electronic copy of Georgia’s computerized statewide voter registration list can be accessed online in Raffensperger’s office in Macon, where his professional licensing division is, according to court records.
But Royal believed that, if it could be accessed online in Macon, it could be accessed “virtually everywhere with an internet connection,” he said in court records.
The judge indicated that the Northern District of Georgia would be better qualified to handle the lawsuit because Raffensperger’s principal office is located in Atlanta. The records Dhillon seeks are located at Raffensperger’s elections division’s office in Atlanta, according to Royal.
“Accordingly, the demanded record of the current electronic copy of the computerized statewide voter registration list is located in the Northern District of Georgia,” Royal said. “Because the Attorney General’s demand was not made in, and the demanded records are not located in, the Middle District of Georgia, the specific grant of jurisdiction … is not satisfied here.”
