Federal Judge Blocks Trump Proof-of-Citizenship Requirement for Voting

A federal judge on Wednesday permanently blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from carrying out much of his initial elections-related executive order, including a provision that would have required voters to present documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering.

The decision from U.S. District Judge Denise Casper in Boston makes permanent an earlier preliminary injunction she issued last year, when she temporarily halted several parts of Trump’s plan to reshape election procedures.

Casper dismissed the administration’s claim that the Democratic state attorneys general challenging the order had sued too soon because the rules had not yet taken effect. She sided instead with the argument that the Constitution assigns election-regulating authority to the states and Congress, and that Trump’s directives ran afoul of the separation of powers.

The Constitution “does not grant the President any specific powers over elections,” Casper wrote.

Trump’s order also sought to bar the counting of mail ballots received after Election Day, even when postmarked by the deadline, and to penalize states that did not follow the requirements by cutting off certain federal funds.

The ruling marks another legal setback for the elections executive order Trump signed only months into his second term. He has since issued a separate elections order aimed at establishing a national voter list and restricting mail voting, a measure that is likewise facing several lawsuits.

In a separate case last fall, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., handling a challenge brought by civil rights organizations and groups aligned with the Democratic Party, stopped the government from moving ahead with adding the proof-of-citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form. The same judge later prohibited the secretary of defense from requiring military personnel to provide documentary proof of citizenship when registering to vote or applying for ballots.

In what appeared to acknowledge the limits of imposing such a requirement through executive action, Trump has also pressed the Republican-controlled Congress to enact a proof-of-citizenship mandate. The SAVE America Act cleared the House but has stalled in the Senate, prompting Trump to call for eliminating the filibuster that has stood in the bill’s way.

On Wednesday, he abruptly cancelled the expected signing of a bipartisan housing bill, saying he won’t sign legislation until Congress passes his proof of citizenship requirement for voting.