A First Circuit Court of Appeals panel upheld a lower court ruling Sunday that blocks the federal government from overhauling mail-in ballots and assembling citizenship lists for the 2026 midterms. It was the latest rebuke for President Donald Trump’s effort to exert control over the midterms via executive order, keeping on hold a directive he signed in March.
The panel was composed of two Biden appointees and one Trump appointee. Judge Joshua Dunlap, the Trump judge, dissented from the majority in part, finding that the injunction was not justified as to the part of the executive order that mandates the creation and distribution of state citizenship lists. He wrote that it “does not order States, including Plaintiffs, to take any action based on the State Citizenship List,” and merely provides states with “further resources” to use in law enforcement.
The majority decision dealt solely with the question of whether the plaintiffs — around half the states — have standing to challenge the executive order. The administration has maintained that all their injuries are speculative, since the agencies involved have not yet produced final rules to enforce the order’s requirements. The majority was unconvinced.
“As the district court reasoned, the EO lays out a clear set of rapidly approaching deadlines by which states must coordinate with federal officials and comply with new voting procedures — all while the states must also ensure that their officials and the public understand the evolving set of rules that would govern the upcoming September and November elections,” the panel wrote.
The district court had also held the order to be unconstitutional; the government only challenged the part of its finding that the case was ripe for plaintiffs to challenge, so the constitutionality question was not before this panel.
It has become routine for Republicans to fearmonger about the tamperability of absentee voting, and the Trump administration’s efforts to make it harder for voters (who it mostly assumes to be Democrats) to vote by mail have intensified as the midterms get closer.
Read the ruling here:
Not-a-cat.
Get your tiny stinking hands off our elections.