BOSTON — A federal judge heard Tuesday from voting rights groups and a coalition of two dozen states that want the courts to block President Donald Trump’s actions Executive order Create a federal voter list and limit mail-in voting,
Plaintiffs in two lawsuits argued that Trump’s order was intended to ensure only citizens could vote Found unconstitutional Because states and Congress, not the president, have the power to set election rules. They also told the court that the move places a costly burden on state election officials to comply and would spread fear over concerns they could be sued.
“This will be a radical change in the way some states manage their ballots,” said Michael Cohen, who was part of a team representing California, adding that “it would be difficult to overstate the disruption this will cause.”
The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented the League of Women Voters in the other lawsuit, called the order “a dangerous attempt to disenfranchise eligible voters across the country.” The orders transform “the US Postal Service from a neutral mail carrier into an arbiter of who can cast a vote by mail,” the group said.
“This case challenges the executive’s extraordinary and abusive assertion of federal election administration,” the organization said in its complaint.
The hearing comes less than a week later Another judge He refused to stop the system. US District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee in Washington, agreed with the Republican Trump administration’s claim that it was too early to block the order because it had not yet been implemented.
The Trump administration, in its motions to dismiss the lawsuits, said the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring their claims. They also argued that the motions are premature and that the plaintiffs lack a legal basis to bring their claim under the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how federal agencies develop and issue regulations.
Stephen Peasey, a lawyer for the Trump administration, said the damages cited by the plaintiffs were subjective, as a lot could change with the voting list before it is finalized. He also said no one would be prosecuted for violating the executive order.
Missouri Attorney General Lou Capozzi, speaking on behalf of the states supporting the list, said it was too early to say how his state would use the list, but it was “unlikely” that any voters this year would be removed from the voter rolls because of it.
“We’re not quite sure how we’re going to use it,” Capozzi said, adding, “We don’t want this process to be strangled in bed, so to speak.”
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani granted motions to stay the order along with motions to dismiss the cases under advisement.
During oral arguments, Talwani expressed concerns about whether the federal system could be ready for the next election and the risks to election workers who rely on a different state slate than the federal one. It also raised doubts about the reliability of the federal list — suggesting, for example, that women who changed their names after marriage or someone who moved from one state to another might be missed.
“Isn’t there a reasonable fear and concern among voters that they will be excluded?” Al-Talwani asked.
Trump issued the order in March after a bill he supported to reform voting Stumbled into Congress. The order would have required the federal government to create a list of eligible voters and then direct the Postal Service to deliver mail-in ballots only to those on the list. Election officials said the law was ripe for abuse and could cause chaos, and the Postal Union did He objected to the idea of postmen monitoring ballots.
The Postal Service published a proposed rule required by Trump’s executive order in the Federal Register. Among other things, the rule would not apply to primary elections or overseas balloting.
Since his loss in the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden, Trump has baselessly claimed that mail-in voting is rife with fraud and… A federal investigation was launched In the vote that year, though Frequent audits and investigationsincluded Those run by RepublicansAnd I found that it was Free from widespread fraud. Trump also said he wants to “take over” election administration in Democratic areas.