Cincinnati, Ohio - A federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday that the Department of Justice was not entitled to seize Michigan's voter registration list, which contains sensitive information about the state's voters.

In a 2-1 decision, the US Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit ruled that federal law does not grant Washington the right to access Michigan's voter registration list.

The ruling effectively blocks the Trump administration from accessing vast amounts of personal information in Michigan's unredacted voter rolls, including names, birth dates, license numbers, and social security numbers.

Specifically, the three-judge panel denied the DOJ's assertion that Title III of the 1960 Civil Rights Act authorizes its access to state voter rolls.

Title III, according to Judge Andre Mathis, granted the federal government power to "ensure that everyone who had the right to vote could freely exercise that right."

By trying to seize Michigan's voting records, however, the court found the DOJ was invoking the title "for an inverse purpose."

The legal case was made necessary when Michigan and dozens of other states refused to provide the DOJ with unredacted voter rolls, which President Donald Trump's administration had requested on the basis of maintaining compliance with voting laws.

Wednesday's decision upholds a previous ruling by District Judge Hala Jarbou, who in February wrote: "The CRA does not require the disclosure of voter registration lists because they are not documents that come into the possession of election officials."

Then-Attorney General Pam Bondi in December justified the DOJ's attempt to seize voter rolls from dozens of states by arguing they're the "cornerstone of fair and free elections, and too many states have fallen into a pattern of noncompliance."

"The Department of Justice will continue filing proactive election integrity litigation until states comply with basic election safeguards," Bondi said at the time.