By Jack Phillips
Contributing Writer
A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from enforcing part of an executive order the president signed last year that would require proof of citizenship as a requirement to vote in elections.
In an order issued Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Denise L. Casper wrote that federal law and the Constitution do not give power to a president to manage elections.
“Our Constitution vests control over federal elections in the states, subject to some oversight by Congress,” Casper, who serves in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, wrote in the order. “While the Constitution vests the president with ‘executive power’ and commands him to ‘take care that the laws be faithfully executed,’ it does not grant the president any specific powers over elections.”
The ruling by Casper effectively converts a preliminary injunction that she had issued a year ago, in which she temporarily blocked many of President Donald Trump’s efforts to overhaul elections, into a permanent ban.
Among other changes, Trump’s order would have required people to provide documentary proof of citizenship when registering to vote; prevented mail ballots from being counted if they arrive after Election Day, even if they were postmarked by then; and punished states that failed to comply by withholding certain federal money.
Casper, in her order, rejected the Trump administration’s argument that the lawsuit to block the changes brought by Democratic state attorneys general was premature because the rules had yet to be implemented. Instead, she agreed that the Constitution gives states and Congress the authority to regulate elections, and that Trump’s requirements violated the separation of powers.
At issue is a March 2025 order signed by Trump titled “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” which had directed the federal Election Assistance Commission to ensure that proof-of-citizenship requirements were implemented in national mail voter registration applications.
It also mandated that the attorney general penalize states that count mail-in ballots received after Election Day.
“States fail adequately to vet voters’ citizenship, and, in recent years, the Department of Justice has failed to prioritize and devote sufficient resources for enforcement of these provisions,” said the order, in part, providing the Trump administration’s rationale on why the measure is needed. “Even worse, the prior administration actively prevented states from removing aliens from their voter lists.”
After facing setbacks on a proof-of-citizen requirement by executive order, Trump has said he wants legislation passed in the Republican-controlled Congress to create such a mandate. The SAVE America Act, sometimes called the SAVE Act, has passed the House but has stalled in the Senate, leading Trump to advocate for eliminating the filibuster that is blocking the legislation.
Earlier on Wednesday, he canceled the expected signing of a bipartisan housing bill, writing on Truth Social that he won’t sign the bill until Congress passes the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship as a requirement for voting in federal elections.
“Today’s housing news conference and signing is hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE America Act, which I consider to be a national emergency,” the president wrote in his post, which came before Casper issued her ruling.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.,c previously has said Republicans lack the votes to eliminate the legislative filibuster to pass the voting act, including during an interview last week with Fox News. The only way to get the bill passed, he said, would be to remove the legislative hurdle, which “is not something that we have anywhere close to the votes to do.”
Additionally, Trump earlier this month said he wants the SAVE America Act to be attached to a bill extending Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the government to use warrantless surveillance of foreign nationals outside the United States.
Responding to the president’s decision not to sign the housing legislation, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters on Wednesday that he would attempt to push the SAVE America Act through a third budget reconciliation bill.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
