US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
Federal trial court in Atlanta; dismissed the DOJ suit for Georgia's voter list.
On 30 September 2026 the Court threw out, without leave to amend, the Justice Department's demand for Georgia's full voter roll, holding that state privacy law shields voters' dates of birth and Social Security numbers.
Last refreshed: 1 October 2026
Timeline for US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
Issued the dismissal order
US Midterms 2026: Judge dismisses DOJ's Georgia voter suitBackground
The US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia is the federal trial court for Atlanta and the north of the state. It sits in four divisions, Atlanta, Gainesville, Newnan and Rome, and the 11th Circuit hears its appeals.
During the 2026 election cycle the Court became one of the venues for the Justice Department's drive to obtain unredacted state voter lists. Judge Victoria Marie Calvert's ruling in United States v. Raffensperger turned on Georgia's own voter-privacy statute rather than on federal law alone.
Its rulings bind the parties before it; appeals from all four divisions go to the 11th Circuit, which also sits in Atlanta.
The court shut the door on refiling
United States v. Raffensperger asked the Court to order Georgia's Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, to surrender every registrant's date of birth, Social Security number and driver licence number. On 30 September 2026 Judge Victoria Marie Calvert ruled for Georgia: the 1960 civil rights statute the department invoked gives it no power, under its Title III, to trump the state's voter-privacy law.
She dismissed without leave to amend, so the department cannot refile the claim in Atlanta; any further fight runs to the 11th Circuit. By Democracy Docket's tally, the department has now lost 26 voter-roll cases in a row.