A federal appeals court on Saturday refused to let the Trump administration enforce key parts of President Donald Trump’s executive order tightening mail-in voting rules in 23 Democratic-led states, a setback that could send the administration to the US Supreme Court ahead of this year’s midterm elections.
In a 2-1 decision, the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) request to pause a June ruling blocking several provisions of Trump’s March executive order while the administration appeals.
The DOJ previously told the court it could seek emergency relief from the Supreme Court if it did not prevail.
The administration argued the lawsuit was premature because federal agencies had not finalized the policies needed to implement the executive order.
But the appeals court found the plaintiff states were already facing looming election deadlines and had begun preparing for potential changes.
“As the district court reasoned, the (executive order) lays out a clear set of rapidly approaching deadlines by which states must coordinate with federal officials and comply with new voting procedures,” the majority wrote. “The Plaintiff States have no practical choice but to respond to the (order) now.”
Trump signed Executive Order 14399 in March as part of his election integrity agenda. --->READ MORE HERE
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A federal appeals court has rejected President Trump’s attempt to revive his plans to have the U.S. Postal Service referee this year’s elections by refusing to deliver ballots by mail unless states first verify the eligibility of the voters.
The First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to overturn a lower court ruling that had shut down Mr. Trump’s plans, which he detailed in an executive order in March.
The Justice Department had argued that the Democrat-led states that challenged Mr. Trump’s order lacked standing to sue and that the case was not yet ripe because the government hasn’t finalized its plans. But the appeals court disagreed, finding that states are already having to grapple with the president’s directives.
For example, nearly half of the states already had obtained ballot envelopes that wouldn’t have complied with the Postal Service’s standards under Mr. Trump’s order, the courts found.
“The plaintiff states have no practical choice but to respond to the EO now,” the three-judge panel ruled.
Mr. Trump’s order had directed Homeland Security to produce citizenship lists for states, which they could use to scour their own rolls for noncitizen names.
He also ordered the Postal Service to come up with standardized envelopes for election mail, and to refuse to deliver election materials that didn’t meet the standard. And the post office would refuse to deliver ballots to names that didn’t appear on states’ lists of approved eligible voters.
Federal agencies were directed to withhold money from states and localities that didn’t cooperate, and the Justice Department was ordered to pursue investigations against violators. --->READ MORE HERE
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