The Justice, Homeland Security, and Defense departments were ordered by a federal judge to speed up processing records requests by the Democratic National Committee pertaining to the potential deployment of federal agents at polling stations in November.
Judge Beryl A. Howell directed the agencies to complete searches for responsive records by July 1 and start producing records to the committee at a rate of 500 pages per month for each outstanding request, in a minute order entered on the docket in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
The DNC sued the agencies in March after they all failed to produce any responsive records to its Freedom of Information Act requests for documents related to the possible deployment of federal troops or law enforcement agents to polling places, ballot drop boxes, or election offices during the upcoming midterm elections. The Trump administration’s broad crackdown on immigration enforcement and attempts to assert more federal control over elections have worried Democrats that federal agents will be sent to monitor polling places in the fall.
The “time-sensitive nature of the requests,” and the fact that DNC is seeking records to inform an imminent public debate, dictate the resolution of the parties’ competing proposals on a timeline for producing records, the judge said.
The government argued in a status report filed last week that it’s “not yet possible to estimate when final determinations will be made with respect to the relevant requests” given several agencies have yet to complete their searches for responsive documents. However, the upcoming midterm election is unfolding stories about activities by the federal government that are the subject of public debate and discussion right now and will be over next year, Howell said.
Klubes Law Group and in-house counsel represent the DNC.
The case is Democratic Nat’l Comm. v. US Dep’t of Just., D.D.C., No. 1:26-cv-00825, minute order 5/26/26.