Judge permanently blocks Trump proof of citizenship voter rule

A federal judge in Boston permanently blocked Donald Trump from enforcing most of his first elections executive order, keeping documentary proof of citizenship out of voter registration rules as primaries and runoff contests continue ahead of the November general election. The decision also stopped the administration from using federal money to force state compliance and from barring some mail ballots that arrived after Election Day but were postmarked on time.

U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper converted a preliminary injunction she had issued about a year earlier into a permanent ban. The Constitution gives states and Congress authority over elections and does not give the president specific power to rewrite the rules on his own, Casper ruled.

The blocked order would have required documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration, a change that could make it harder for eligible citizens to register and stay on the rolls. It also would have withheld certain federal funds from states that did not comply and restricted the counting of timely mailed ballots received after Election Day, a move that would have affected voters who rely on absentee voting, military mail and late-arriving ballots in close races.

The lawsuit was brought by California, Nevada, Massachusetts, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin. In New York, Attorney General Letitia James called the ruling a block on Trump’s “unconstitutional attempt to seize control of our elections” and said her office would keep defending voting rights in the 2026 midterms.

In Washington, D.C., a separate judge had already blocked the federal voter registration form from being changed to add a proof-of-citizenship requirement, and later barred the Defense Department from imposing the same documentary standard on military personnel registering to vote or requesting ballots. Earlier in the week, another federal judge struck down Trump’s March directive to build a database containing voters’ Social Security numbers, citizenship status and other sensitive data.

Trump has also issued another executive order seeking a national voter list and limits on mail balloting, and that order faces legal challenges. He is pressing Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which has cleared the House but remains stalled in the Senate. On Wednesday, Trump canceled the signing of a bipartisan housing bill and said he would not sign legislation until Congress passes his proof-of-citizenship requirement. The White House and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.