A U.S. appellate court on Saturday upheld a federal ruling that blocked President Trump’s executive order to create a list of eligible voters and limit the delivery of mail ballots to people on that list across nearly half of all states. Circuit Court of Appeals, the decision rejects the Trump administration’s effort to enforce mail-in voting restrictions in 23 U.S. states that sued ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Appeals Court Rejects Mail-In Voting Restrictions
The appellate decision builds upon an initial injunction ordered in June by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston. That preliminary order prevented the administration from enforcing the presidential directive in the states that challenged the action. Judge Talwani, who was nominated by former Democratic President Barack Obama, agreed with state plaintiffs that the federal directive could not be implemented for the Nov. 3 elections within the jurisdictions that sued.
Mr. Trump originally issued the executive order in March. The directive required the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the commissioner of the Social Security Administration to compile a “state citizenship list” of eligible voters. Furthermore, it instructed the U.S. Postal Service to restrict mail ballot delivery exclusively to individuals appearing on that specific list.
Did You Know? Before signing the executive order in the Oval Office, President Trump defended the proposed changes by stating, “The cheating on mail-in voting is legendary,” while pointing to the registry as a necessary safeguard against non-U.S. citizens casting ballots.
Legal Battles Over Authority and Election Rules
State election officials quickly pushed back against the presidential directive, warning that the registry and delivery limits were ripe for abuse and could trigger widespread chaos. Democratic officials representing 23 states and the District of Columbia responded by filing a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Boston. Their legal challenge argued that the executive order was unconstitutional because the authority to establish election rules belongs strictly to the states and Congress, rather than the executive branch.
As the legal battle progressed through the federal court system, the White House and the Justice Department did not immediately return an email message seeking comment on Sunday regarding the appellate court’s Saturday ruling. The current injunction firmly keeps the restrictions blocked in the states that have sued.
Frequently Asked Questions
The March executive order required the commissioner of the Social Security Administration and the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to build a “state citizenship list” of eligible voters, while instructing the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to individuals on that list.
Democratic officials in 23 states and the District of Columbia challenged the directive through a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Boston.
U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani issued an initial injunction in June halting the order for the Nov. 3 elections in the states that sued, a decision that was subsequently upheld by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Saturday.
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