Overview
- U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols heard arguments Thursday in Washington in consolidated lawsuits seeking to block President Trump's March 31 executive order on mail voting and he did not rule from the bench.
- The order tells the Department of Homeland Security to build a list of citizens eligible to vote using federal data and requires the Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to people on each state's approved list.
- Democratic leaders and civil rights groups, including the DNC, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, the NAACP, and LULAC, say the plan exceeds presidential power and could coerce states to limit access to mail ballots.
- Justice Department lawyers urged dismissal as premature because the list does not yet exist, arguing the policy aims to protect election integrity rather than disenfranchise eligible voters.
- The Washington case is paired with two similar suits, a separate challenge is pending in Boston, and courts last year blocked an earlier Trump order that sought proof of citizenship on federal mail registration forms.