Judge Strikes Key Portions of Trump Election Order in Latest White House Setback
Federal officials can no longer require voter registration include proof of citizenship.
A Massachusetts federal judge Wednesday permanently blocked major portions of President Trump’s 2025 executive order on election administration, ruling they exceed his authority and violate the Constitution’s separation of powers.
Mr. Trump hours earlier intensified his push for the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act by canceling a planned signing ceremony for the bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, saying he won’t make the housing bill law until Congress passes “the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency.”
Chief U.S. District Judge Denise Casper’s decision marks another legal setback for Mr. Trump’s March 25, 2025, executive order Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections.
Ms. Casper — whom President Barack Obama appointed to the federal bench in 2010 — ruled in favor of a coalition of 19 states led by California that argued the president lacks authority to impose new election requirements without congressional action.
The judge permanently barred federal officials, aside from Mr. Trump, from implementing or enforcing the challenged provisions, which sought to require proof of citizenship for the federal voter-registration form, alter absentee-ballot forms military and overseas voters use, and condition certain federal election funding on compliance with the administration’s policies.
Ms. Casper also declared portions of the order conflicted with existing federal statutes, including the National Voter Registration Act and the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.
Attorneys general from California, Nevada, Massachusetts, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin — all Democrats — sued the president.
Ms. Casper noted the Constitution assigns the states primary authority over federal-election administration, subject to congressional regulation. She said that while the Constitution grants the president executive power, “it does not grant the President any specific powers over elections.”
The ruling follows earlier decisions in Washington, D.C., and Washington state that also blocked portions of the executive order. The judge cited those cases in her opinion.
The administration had asked the court to delay a final ruling while an appeal of an earlier preliminary injunction remains pending before the First Circuit Court of Appeals. Ms. Casper rejected that request, citing the approaching 2026 midterm elections and the need for election rules to remain settled.
Mr. Trump’s executive order has been a central element of his administration’s election agenda. Among other things, it sought stricter standards for absentee ballots.
The judge’s ruling leaves one remaining claim in the case unresolved. She knocked down a provision that denies or conditions the release of certain federal-election funds to states that count mailed ballots received after Election Day — but only for ballot-receipt states. She ordered the parties to report by July 10 how they intend to proceed with non-ballot-receipt states’ challenge to that section.
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