Posted on 11/01/2025 8:52:51 AM PDT by Signalman
A federal judge ruled Friday that President Donald Trump’s request to add a documentary proof of citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form cannot be enforced.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, a Clinton appointee, sided with left-wing and “civil rights” groups that had sued the Trump Administration over his executive order aimed at bolstering election integrity.
The order, titled “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” directs federal agencies like the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Social Security Administration (SSA), and Department of State to provide states access to federal databases to verify voter eligibility and citizenship during registration. Agencies under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) are also required to assess citizenship before distributing federal voter registration forms to public assistance enrollees.
In order to do so, the order mandates documentary proof of U.S. citizenship for voter registration in federal elections. In order to do so, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) was directed to update the national mail voter registration form to require proof, such as a passport, birth certificate, or Real ID-compliant driver’s license.
States that fail to comply with the directive would be at risk of losing federal funding, the order states.
The order has been met with several legal challenges from left-wing groups, including the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and attorneys general from 19 Democrat-controlled states.
On Friday, Judge Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the proof of citizenship directive is an unconstitutional violation of separation of powers. “Because our Constitution assigns responsibility for election regulation to the States and to Congress, this Court holds that the President lacks the authority to direct such changes,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote in her opinion.
She further ruled that on matters related to setting qualifications for voting and regulating federal election procedures “the Constitution assigns no direct role to the President in either domain.”
The latest opinion echoes comments made by the judge when she issued a preliminary injunction against voter ID provisions back in April. “Consistent with that allocation of power, Congress is currently debating legislation that would affect many of the changes the President purports to order,” the Clinton-appointed judge found at the time. “No statutory delegation of authority to the Executive Branch permits the President to short-circuit Congress’s deliberative process by executive order.”
Friday’s decision grants the plaintiffs a partial summary judgment that prohibits the proof of citizenship provision from going into effect. It also permanently bars the U.S. Election Assistance Commission from adding the requirement to the federal voting form.
Both voter ID and bolstering noncitizen voting enforcement have long been popular policy positions among voters. According to a poll from Gallup taken just before the 2024 presidential election, 84 percent of U.S. adults were in favor of requiring voters to show identification while 83 percent supported requiring proof of citizenship when registering for the first time.
Such policies are also popular along party lines, with 67 percent of Democrats and 84 percent of independents expressing support for mandatory voter ID. Among Republicans support is near unanimous, with 98 percent of respondents expressing support.
The breakdown on proof of citizenship requirements was similar, with 66 percent of Democrats, 84 percent of Independents and 96 percent of Republicans supporting the idea.
Action on election integrity and voter ID laws in particular have long been a focus of President Trump’s agenda. “The system, it’s not a question of being broken — the system is corrupt,” Trump told Breitbart News back in August.
“It’s a corrupt system. A mail-in ballot will always be corrupt. When you go to a polling location and they want your identification and everything, the way — you can’t really vote unless it’s a legit deal. If you have mail-in ballots, nobody has any idea where it’s coming from or where it’s going to and then it travels through so many hands. Jimmy Carter came out a long time ago with a number of highly respected people and they wrote something, and the one thing that come out loud and clear is that mail-in ballots are corrupt. France had it, a lot of countries had it and they went away from it now.”
Another Dipstick Court Skanky Jughead who is making up the laws as she goes along. A real retarded Karen.
It’s in the constitution, you fool!
These parasites are just delaying the inevitable. In no other country is this allowed.
Ignore and proceed...
Ignore and proceed...
Just in time for another judge to interfere with another Election
That judge must be impeached. Citizenship has no other value but for the vote.
Change the name of the "Real ID Act", to "Real Voter ID Act"
Unbelievable! What honest person could be against making sure that the person voting is who they say they are so that only legitimate votes are counted?
The Grimlin Judges are constantly at work, to undo what Trump is doing.
In the meantime, you’re up, Congress: codify this EO and make these lawsuits moot!
These low level Federal Judges know that any order they issue no matter how insane will be obeyed by the worthless Trump lawyers. Might as well send Jackie Chiles to argue these cases.
What would stop these rouge judges is if they were held liable for court costs and lawyer fees as a result of their intentionally unconstitutional decisions.
No Queens!
There will be an appeal. May end up with SCOTUS.
These sorts of things have to be done by the individual states.
Trump is going to ignore the judges order based upon what this stupid judge did. He is deploying 25,000 first strike troops across the country. That is telling based upon what happened in Dearborn, MI. This stupid move by the left is over! This judge is going to end up like the bimbo from Illinois who wanted the ICE chief to report to her daily!
You are correct. Everyone here screams that these hacks do not have the authority to impose this BS. Well if Trump complies, which he will, then l guess they do have the authority because Trump’s lawyers gives it to them.
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