A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the Trump administration from enforcing part of an executive order President Donald Trump signed last year that would require proof of citizenship to vote in elections.
In an order issued Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Denise L. Casper wrote that federal law and the Constitution give power to a president to manage elections.
“Our Constitution vests control over federal elections in the States, subject to some oversight by Congress,” wrote Casper, who serves in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, in the order. “While the Constitution vests the President with ‘executive power’ and commands him to ‘take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed,’ it does not grant the President any specific powers over elections,” he wrote.
The ruling by Casper effectively converts a preliminary injunction she issued a year ago, which temporarily blocked many of Trump’s efforts to overhaul elections, into a permanent ban.