A judge appointed by Barack Obama has thrown a wrench into President Donald Trump’s vote-by-mail power grab.
Boston-based District Judge Indira Talwani has blocked key parts of an executive order signed by Trump that sought to grant federal authorities the power to determine who may vote by mail and who has their ballots withheld.
The order exceeded Trump’s authority under the Constitution, according to Talwani. Federal law says state legislatures and Congress set the rules for federal elections, not the Oval Office.
Talwani sided with several Democratic-led states that argued Trump, who votes by mail himself, was unlawfully interfering with their administration of federal elections.
The issue is expected to be appealed by the Trump administration, dragging out the legal battle as the November midterm elections approach.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told the Daily Beast that Trump‘s executive order is constitutional, adding that the administration is “confident that we will ultimately prevail in its implementation.”
“President Trump has also urged Congress to pass the SAVE America Act and other legislative proposals that would establish a uniform standard of photo ID for voting, prohibit no-excuse mail-in voting, and end the practice of ballot harvesting to secure our elections for generations to come,” she added.
Trump’s order directed Homeland Security to compile a list of confirmed U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote in each state—feeding into baseless right-wing conspiracies that non-citizens voted for former President Joe Biden en masse in the 2020 presidential election.
DHS was ordered to compile a list from citizenship and naturalization records and other federal databases, taking voter registration powers and oversight away from states.
The executive order required the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail-in ballots only to those confirmed to be on lists curated by DHS—an order now blocked by Talwani’s ruling. Trump’s postmaster general, David Steiner, told senators this week that he would refuse to deliver mail-in ballots to states that withhold their voter rolls from the administration.
The executive order required state election officials to hand over the list at least 30 days before ballots are sent out under state law, and voters not on the list would not receive a ballot.
During the Homeland Security Committee hearing, ranking Democrat Sen. Gary Peters told Steiner on Wednesday that Trump’s rule was illegal and would “coerce” states into providing the Trump administration with sensitive voter data.
“This is basically a back-door way for the federal government to get voting information that states control under the U.S. Constitution,” Peters said to Steiner. “You are going to make a decision that people cannot vote by mail… That’s unacceptable.”
The American Postal Workers Union called the executive order an “unconstitutional attack on the millions of Americans who vote by mail” in a statement this month.
Trump’s order also included harsher penalties for those who vote illegally.
Much of that order is moot for now. The administration was sued by voting groups along with 23 states and the District of Columbia, all of which argued that Trump lacks the legal authority to change how federal election ballots are distributed.
Those who opposed Trump’s order—signed on March 31, mere months ahead of midterm elections that are expected to be a bloodbath for Republicans—said states would have to rush to implement the new election rules, inviting chaos that may disenfranchise eligible voters.
