Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department could take its fight to obtain copies of states’ voter rolls to the Supreme Court after losing 22 cases in federal courts so far.
“Absolutely it’s a possibility,” Blanche said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” when asked about petitioning the high court to review the cases.
The Justice Department began pursuing state voter rolls — the official lists of registered voters — after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March 2025 directing the federal government to take action on election administration. Per the Constitution, states are primarily in charge of administering elections.
Blanche said the Trump administration “understands” that states hold the power to administer elections, “but it doesn’t mean the federal government should play no role.”
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“So the tension there is, of course, whether we should be playing the role that we’re playing, and that’s really what we’re litigating,” Blanche added.
The Justice Department launched 30 lawsuits against states that did not voluntarily turn over their rolls and has lost 22 cases so far.
Trump’s executive order seeks the voter rolls to review them against federal citizenship data and identify any potential noncitizens registered to vote.
“Election integrity is something that President Trump ran on, and the American people elected him,” Blanche said on NBC. “The idea that the Department of Justice is trying to investigate issues around elections to make sure they’re fair and make sure they’re conducted the right way is not something that we should be running away from.”
Blanche was sworn in as attorney general last week, after a narrow Senate confirmation vote.
Blanche on Sunday also pushed back on a question of whether the Justice Department will act independently from the White House.
“There’s a big difference between saying we will always do our job and investigate any case and act independently of the White House,” Blanche said. “No, I’m not going to pledge that. And no attorney general should ever pledge that.”
Blanche faced questions after speaking at a rally hosted by Trump on Friday for New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman.
Ahead of Blanche’s confirmation vote, some senators wanted guarantees from Blanche that he would drop the controversial “anti-weaponization” fund that would have compensated people who were found to have been improperly prosecuted by the federal government.
After Blanche officially assumed the role, Trump said the fate of the fund was up to the attorney general. Blanche reiterated that the fund was “dead.”
“I’ve said repeatedly it’s dead, and he [Trump] has also said it’s dead.” Blanche said Sunday. “There is no fund. There will be no fund.”
Some of the controversy surrounding the fund stemmed from whether it could be used to compensate people who faced prosecution after the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
While calling the fund “dead,” Blanche said that people who sue the federal government “could get paid” as part of any litigation.
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