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A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has recently halted a segment of President Donald Trump’s executive order on election integrity. The ruling specifically targets provisions that mandate documentary proof of citizenship prior to voter registration.
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued the order following lawsuits from three distinct party groups challenging five different provisions outlined in a Trump executive order dated March 25. While Kollar-Kotelly dismissed requests to rescind three of the provisions, she granted injunctions against two related to the proof of citizenship requirement for voters.
Details of the Blocked Provisions
The first provision that faced a block would have compelled the Election Assistance Commission to modify standardized national voter registration forms, mandating documentary proof of citizenship. The second provision sought to require federal agencies that provide voter registration services to individuals on public assistance to verify the citizenship status of those individuals.
Judicial Rationale
In her ruling, Judge Kollar-Kotelly emphasized that the U.S. Constitution grants Congress and the States, rather than the President, the authority to oversee federal elections. She stated that Congress is currently evaluating legislation intended to implement many of the changes that the President has attempted to enforce through executive order. She specified that no legal delegation of authority permits the President to bypass Congress’s deliberative process in such a manner.
While the judge denied requests to block additional provisions related to mail-in ballots and data collection on citizenship status, she remarked that those challenges were
