The Department of Justice has appealed all eight of the voter-data dismissals it has lost, in California, Oregon, Michigan, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Arizona, Wisconsin and Maine, per the University of Wisconsin State Democracy tracker dated 16 June1. On 2 June the count stood at six appeals alongside a dropped national case; the department has since folded the rest into one appellate effort. Roughly 22 states and DC remain in active litigation, and a Georgia judge recused on 15 June, sending that case to reassignment.
The trial courts dismissed these suits for failing to state the statutory authority behind the DOJ's demands, reasoning narrow enough that any active-litigation state could cite it. By appealing every loss rather than refiling, the Department of Justice converts a scattered defensive position into a single offensive one. A favourable circuit ruling would revive the whole programme; an adverse one would turn portable trial-court reasoning into binding precedent across multiple states.
Two forums hold the leverage. The 9th Circuit heard the Oregon appeal on 19 May and the 6th Circuit heard Michigan on 13 May. Neither has handed down a decision, and either could be the ruling that sets the precedent for the rest. The DOJ has chosen to wager its remaining record on those benches rather than keep litigating state by state in courts that have already ruled against it.
