Judge Blocks Part of DJT Order to Require Voters Prove Citizenship

Federal District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly blocked portions of Donald Trump’s executive order that would force election officials to “assess” the citizenship of people receiving public benefits and demand that all voters prove their citizenship before registering them to vote.

Kollar-Kotelly also prohibited the Election Assistance Commission from holding back federal funds from states that do not comply with the blocked order.

The case before her was consolidated from three lawsuits by:

• Democratic National Committee, New York Senator Charles Schumer and Congressional Representative Hakeem Jeffries
• League of United Latin American Citizens
• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

She described the consolidated lawsuit as being about separation of powers. If the conduct of elections is to be changed, Congress is the portion of the government that can do so. She wrote:

Our Constitution entrusts Congress and the States—not the President—with the authority to regulate federal elections. No statutory delegation of authority to the Executive Branch permits the President to short-circuit Congress’s deliberative process by executive order.

For the time being, she allowed portions of Trump’s order that involve enforcement of pre-existing laws.

• Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State will provide the “Department of Government Efficiency” with access to its databases to identify non-citizens who registered to vote.
• Department of Justice will act against states that do not require mail-in ballots to be received by election day.

Kollar-Kotelly did not allow those sections on their merits. She allowed them because the plaintiffs lack legal standing on those issues, which means they will not themselves suffer direct harm from those portions of the executive order.

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