Try not to be shocked if there's no fair election in 2026

Trump and the GOP are trying hard to keep it from happening.

In her lengthy ruling, U.S. district judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly dismissed the administration’s argument that the power of the presidency entitles him to tinker with voting requirements.

“The President has no constitutional power over election regulation that would support this unilateral exercise of authority,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote. “The Constitution vests that power in the States and Congress alone.”

She blocked the two sections of the order numerous voting groups had challenged: one requiring that the Election Assistance Commission, an independent executive branch agency, add the proof of citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form, and one requiring the various agencies that dispense public assistance to assess each individual’s citizenship before giving them voting forms.

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She also dinged the administration for making misrepresentations to court. In a revelation shortly before a hearing earlier this month, the voting group plaintiffs produced proof that the head of the EAC was already reaching out to state election officials for guidance about how to put the citizenship requirement into effect — despite claiming to the Court that implementation of the order had not yet begun.

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A coterie of national Democratic organizations also challenged other parts of the order that Kollar-Kotelly did not enjoin, including the order that the EAC cut off federal funds for states that accept ballots sent before but delivered after Election Day, and the mandate that the attorney general enforce the executive order.

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The order is part of a bundle of actions Trump and Republicans in Congress have taken that, if successful, could suppress voting in the 2026 elections. House Republicans have also passed voter restrictions in the SAVE Act (Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has vowed that the bill, which would need Democratic votes to overcome a filibuster, will not pass in the upper chamber). And Trump has signed a different executive order targeting the Federal Election Commission, which is also being litigated.

  TPM