The courts have again pushed back against the White House on how American elections are run. According to the report, a federal judge has permanently blocked the Trump administration from enforcing an executive order that sought to require proof of citizenship to register and vote, dealing a fresh setback to the president's effort to reshape federal elections.
The order at the center of the case went beyond the citizenship question alone. According to the report, the executive order also demanded that mail-in ballots be received by Election Day, two provisions that the administration is now permanently barred from putting into effect after the judge's decision.
The ruling fits a pattern that has emerged in a very short span of time. According to the report, it is the second time in three days that a federal judge has stopped one of President Trump's attempts to reshape federal elections, underscoring the legal resistance his voting measures have run into.
The decision targets a specific piece of the president's voting agenda. According to the report, the ruling centers on the first of Donald Trump's two main executive orders on voting, meaning the case deals directly with the core of how the administration tried to change the rules around registration and ballots.
The judge was direct about the limits of presidential power in this area. According to the report, Boston-based Judge Denise Casper wrote that President Trump does not have the authority over elections in any way, and found that the president overstepped with the executive order that sought to require proof of citizenship.
The court fight unfolds alongside the president's parallel push in Congress. According to the report, Trump has also pursued tighter election rules through the proposed Save America Act, which would require proof of citizenship and voter identification, an effort that has faced its own difficult path to passage on Capitol Hill.