A federal judge in D.C. declines to block Trump’s executive order on voting by mail
President Trump holds his signed executive order that calls for restricting voting by mail in the White House’s Oval Office in March.
Alex Brandon/AP
hide caption
toggle caption
Alex Brandon/AP
A federal judge has declined to temporarily block President Trump’s executive order that calls for restricting voting by mail.
The ruling released Thursday by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump nominee based in Washington, D.C., leaves in place — at least for now — an executive order on voting that tests the limits of the president’s power under the Constitution. A separate, 2025 executive order on voting was halted by courts.
The latest executive order, issued March 31, calls for the Department of Homeland Security to work with the Social Security Administration to create lists of adult U.S. citizens in each state, and to send those lists to state election officials. It also calls for the U.S. Postal Service — a federal agency that’s independent of a president’s administration — to come up with lists of eligible voters and to only deliver mail-in ballots to people on those lists.
“The Court recognizes that the Postal Service may ultimately issue a final rule that directly affects Plaintiffs or their members, or that the Government may develop State Citizenship Lists that omit specific individuals due to particularized flaws. Plaintiffs may, of course, renew their motions if and when those future actions occur. Until then, however, Plaintiffs cannot show that preliminary injunctive relief is warranted,” Nichols wrote about the decision not to block the order.
Nichols’ ruling comes as another federal judge is preparing to issue a ruling in the coming weeks for a similar set of lawsuits based in Boston.
Since Trump signed the order, it’s been unclear whether and how it would actually affect mail-in voting, which has been taking place for state primaries in this year’s midterm election. In early May, the administration said in a court filing that federal agencies were still deliberating how to carry out the order. Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche later told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee that the Justice Department is working with other agencies to “make sure” the order’s goals are implemented.
Democrats, voting rights groups and almost two dozen states, plus Washington, D.C., have filed five lawsuits challenging the order.
They argue that Article I of the Constitution gives state legislatures and Congress — not the president — the power to set rules for federal elections. Their lawsuits also contend that Trump’s order directs USPS to make rules about election mail that would overstep the mailing agency’s authority.
Trump, who himself voted by mail in Florida in March, has said he issued the order to stop illegal voting by noncitizens in federal elections, which reviews and research have found to be incredibly rare. While there are voters across the partisan divide who rely on mail-in voting, more registered Democrats than Republicans say they voted by mail in the last national election in 2024.
The new court ruling on Trump’s order comes out of the three lawsuits filed in federal court in D.C. A decision on a similar request to block provisions of the order may come out of the two Massachusetts-based lawsuits as soon as early June.
Edited by Benjamin Swasey
District Judge has been vocal about this, good to see them staying on it.
Nichols’ ruling comes as another federal judge is preparing to issue a ruling in the coming weeks for a similar set of lawsuits based in Boston. Meanwhile since Trump signed the order, it’s been unclear whether and how it would actually affect mail-in voting, which has been taking place for state primaries in this year’s midterm election.
In other words since Trump signed the order, it’s been unclear whether and how it would actually affect mail-in voting, which has been taking place for state primaries in this year’s midterm election. Curious to see how this develops.
The fact that the latest executive order, issued March 31, calls for the Department of Homeland Security to work with the Social Security Administration to create lists of adult U.S really puts things into perspective.
Think about it: since Trump signed the order, it’s been unclear whether and how it would actually affect mail-in voting, which has been taking place for state primaries in this year’s midterm election. That speaks volumes.
So the bottom line is president Trump holds his signed executive order that calls for restricting voting by mail in the White House’s Oval Office in March. Wonder how this will land.
On one hand president Trump holds his signed executive order that calls for restricting voting by mail in the White House’s Oval Office in March. But at the same time a federal judge has declined to temporarily block President Trump’s executive order that calls for restricting voting by mail.
If president Trump holds his signed executive order that calls for restricting voting by mail in the White House’s Oval Office in March, then the bigger picture starts to look very different.
Considering the latest executive order, issued March 31, calls for the Department of Homeland Security to work with the Social Security Administration to create lists of adult U.S, it raises some real questions about what happens next.
So the bottom line is the latest executive order, issued March 31, calls for the Department of Homeland Security to work with the Social Security Administration to create lists of adult U.S. Wonder how this will land.
So the bottom line is since Trump signed the order, it’s been unclear whether and how it would actually affect mail-in voting, which has been taking place for state primaries in this year’s midterm election. Wonder how this will land.
Basically president Trump holds his signed executive order that calls for restricting voting by mail in the White House’s Oval Office in March. What matters is whether anything changes because of it.
Reading that a federal judge has declined to temporarily block President Trump’s executive order that calls for restricting voting by mail — hard to argue with the logic there.
Still waiting to hear what Alex Brandon actually plans to do about it.
The detail about since Trump signed the order, it’s been unclear whether and how it would actually affect mail-in voting, which has been taking place for state primaries in this year’s midterm election is something people should sit with.