The Daily Fuckup

Donald Trump’s March 25 elections executive order drew a court challenge on April 3, when New York Attorney General Letitia James and 18 other attorneys general filed suit to stop it. The states say the order reaches beyond any presidential power over elections and would force changes to voting and registration that Congress has not authorized.

The federal complaint was filed in Massachusetts and names 19 states in all: California, Nevada, Massachusetts, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin. It argues that the president cannot unilaterally rewrite election rules, direct the Election Assistance Commission to change the federal registration form, or pressure states to alter how they handle mail ballots.

The lawsuit also says the order would create new barriers for voters and unsettle election systems that are run by the states. In the plaintiffs’ view, the Constitution gives states primary authority over administering elections, while Congress controls federal election law and funding. The complaint asks the court to block the order’s enforcement.

Arizona was part of the April 3 multistate case. Washington and Oregon then filed a separate lawsuit on April 4 over the same executive order, turning the legal fight into more than one challenge instead of a single, rolling filing. No court had ruled on either case at the time.