Judge blocks Trump admin's order for citizenship verification in federal elections

A federal judge in Massachusetts has blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order requiring proof of US citizenship and other voter registration requirements and enhanced ballot security measures.

US District Court of Massachusetts Judge Denise J Casper, an Obama-appointed judge, wrote in her Friday order, "The Constitution does not grant the President any specific powers over elections." She said that the Democratic state attorneys general who challenged the order would likely succeed in their legal challenge of the order, per the Associated Press.

The attorneys general had said that Trump’s order "usurps the States’ constitutional power and seeks to amend election law by fiat." The White House, however, defended the order as "standing up for free, fair and honest elections," and said that the proof of citizenship requirement was "commonsense."

Casper wrote in her order that when it comes to citizenship, "There is no dispute (nor could there be) that U.S. citizenship is required to vote in federal elections and the federal voter registration forms require attestation of citizenship." She also cited the states’ arguments that the requirements in the order "burden the States with significant efforts and substantial costs" to update their procedures.

The March 25 order signed by Trump requires documentation that a voter is a US citizen, a paper ballot record, and prohibits states from counting ballots received after Election Day in federal elections, among other provisions.

In a hearing held earlier in June on the state’s request for a preliminary injunction, Justice Department lawyer Bridget O’Hickey argued that the order sets out to provide a single set of rules for some election operations instead of differing state laws, and said that any harm to states is speculation.

A DC-based federal judge ruled in April against the order, stating that states and Congress, not the president, have the power to regulate federal elections. She blocked part of the order that requires public assistance enrollees to have their citizenship examined before they get access to the federal voter registration form.