The Daily Fuckup

A federal judge in Boston on Thursday blocked key parts of President Donald Trump’s March 31 order on federal elections, including provisions aimed at creating a federal list of eligible voters and limiting who can receive a mail ballot. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani granted summary judgment to a coalition of states that challenged the directive, finding the disputed sections went beyond presidential authority.

The ruling lands in a week that has brought the White House repeated losses over the same election agenda. On June 22, a judge in Washington blocked the administration’s use of an expanded federal database in its citizenship-checking effort. On June 24, a different judge in Boston, Denise Casper, permanently barred most of the administration’s effort to require documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration.

Talwani’s decision focuses on the election-order provisions that directed federal action on voter eligibility and mail voting. The court accepted the challengers’ argument that election rules of that sort belong to states and Congress, not the president acting alone.

The March 31 order said it was intended to strengthen citizenship verification and election integrity in federal contests. This week’s rulings have cut back pieces of that plan one by one, leaving the administration with less of the original order in place and more of it stalled in court.