A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to tighten rules on mail-in voting.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani ruled on June 25 in favor of a coalition of Democrat-led states, which argued that the order improperly interfered with state authority over federal elections.
In her decision, Talwani stated that “the Constitution does not grant the president any specific powers over elections.”
The judge determined that the executive order exceeded presidential powers and violated constitutional principles. She emphasized that election procedures have traditionally been managed by state and local governments since the nation’s founding.
Talwani also found that the president lacked the authority to create state-by-state voter rolls and that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) does not have legal authorization to establish binding rules governing mail-in voting.
In response to the decision, the White House expressed confidence that it would ultimately win in the courts.
“President Trump is committed to ensuring that Americans have full confidence in the administration of our elections,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told The Epoch Times. “The president’s executive order lawfully protects our elections, and we are confident that we will ultimately prevail in its implementation.”
Signed on March 31, Trump’s order instructed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to compile lists of verified U.S. citizens eligible to vote in each state using citizenship, naturalization, and other federal records.
The judge noted that any such database would likely be incomplete because federal privacy laws limit the sharing of sensitive personal information collected by government agencies.
Additionally, the order directed the USPS to deliver ballots only to individuals listed on state-approved mail-in voting registries. The USPS later proposed regulations that would require states to provide voter names and ballot-related barcodes in accordance with the directive.
The executive order also instructed the Department of Justice to prioritize investigations and prosecutions of state and local election officials who distribute federal ballots to individuals deemed ineligible to vote.
Talwani’s ruling came after another federal judge, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, declined to block the order in a separate lawsuit brought by Democratic groups. Nichols concluded that the challenge was premature because the order had not yet been fully implemented. That decision is currently under appeal.
Also on Wednesday, U.S. Postmaster General David Steiner told Congress that the USPS would stop delivering ballots in states that refuse to provide lists of voters receiving mail ballots under the proposed rules. However, he said the agency would comply with any court order preventing those restrictions from taking effect.