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Judge Again Bars Mail Voting Limits 08/12 06:29
BOSTON (AP) -- A federal judge on Tuesday ruled against President Donald
Trump's executive order that sought to create a federal voter list and directly
involve the U.S. Postal Service in election operations in a way that would
limit mail voting.
U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani had already halted the order Trump
signed in March, his second one attempting to set national election rules. On
June 25, she sided with Democratic state attorneys general in granting summary
judgment, preventing the core parts of Trump's order from taking effect.
Tuesday's ruling creates another legal hurdle for the Trump administration
to overcome should it get the initial injunction lifted by the U.S. Supreme
Court.
"That it is now less than 90 days before the November 3, 2026 midterm
elections underscores the critical need for an injunction to prevent Defendants
from changing election rules on the eve of the election," she wrote.
The Trump administration in late July requested that the Supreme Court halt
lower court decisions that have blocked the sweeping changes in nearly half the
country.
In the latest lawsuit, Talwani, who was nominated by Democratic President
Barack Obama, sided with the League of Women Voters and other voting rights
groups.
Her ruling granting a preliminary injunction barred the Postal Service from
taking any steps to implement the order for this year's midterm elections. She
said the administration has so far declined to defend the constitutionality of
the executive order.
"The executive branch has no authority to regulate elections," she wrote.
In response to the ruling, the White House noted that Trump has called for
Congress to pass a stalled bill to restructure American elections,
"The entire Trump Administration will continue lawfully enacting the agenda
President Trump was elected to enact -- which includes the safety and security
of American elections," White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said in a statement.
"This campaign pledge from the President is why millions of Americans sent him
back to the White House."
Voting rights groups hailed the decision.
"This ruling is a victory for voters and for the Constitution," Marcia
Johnson of the League of Women Voters said in a statement. "Neither the
president nor the U.S. Postal Service has the authority to rewrite election
rules."
Plaintiffs argued in two lawsuits, both filed in federal court in Boston,
that the Republican president's order should be found unconstitutional because
the states and Congress, not the president, have the power to set election
rules. The League of Women Voters also argued that Trump lacked the authority
to issue his order and the U.S. Postal Service and other defendants lack the
authority to carry it out.
Trump's Republican administration, in its motions to dismiss the lawsuits,
argued that the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring their claims. They also
argued that the motions are premature and that plaintiffs lack the legal basis
to bring their claim based on the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs
how federal agencies develop and issue regulations.
Stephen Pezzi, a lawyer for the Trump administration, said the harms the
plaintiffs referenced were subjective, because much can change with the voting
list before it is made final. He also said no one would be prosecuted for
violating the order.
Trump's executive order, the second one aimed at elections during his second
term, comes as he continues to suggest that there is widespread voting by
noncitizens. Along with his executive orders, Trump is pushing legislation in
the Republican-controlled Congress to create a proof-of-citizenship mandate.
The SAVE America Act has passed the House but has stalled in the Senate.
States already have detailed processes aimed at keeping their voter rolls
accurate, and voting by noncitizens has been shown to be rare. It also is a
felony that can be punishable by deportation.
Trump issued the order in March after a bill he supported to overhaul voting
stalled in Congress. The order would have had the federal government create a
list of eligible voters and then directed the U.S. Postal Service to deliver
mail ballots only to those on the list. Election officials argued that it was
ripe for abuse and could cause chaos, and the postal union has objected to the
idea of mail carriers policing ballots.
The Postal Service had published a proposed rule required by Trump's
executive order in the Federal Register, but it was put on hold by Talwani's
first ruling.
In a separate lawsuit filed against the executive order, a federal judge in
Washington in May agreed with the Trump administration that it was too early to
block the order because it had yet to be implemented. That lawsuit was brought
by Democratic and civil rights groups. In July, a three-judge panel of the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld the May ruling by U.S.
District Court Judge Carl J. Nichols that said an injunction against the order
was premature.
Other rulings have gone against the Trump administration's first executive
order on elections, signed just months after he took office in his second term.
That order would have required people to show documents proving their
citizenship when registering to vote, among other changes.
Since his 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, Trump has
groundlessly claimed mail voting is rife with fraud and has launched a federal
investigation into that year's vote, even though repeated audits and
investigations, including ones run by Republicans, found it was free of
widespread fraud. Trump also has said he wants to "take over" election
administration in Democratic areas.
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