The Daily Fuckup

A federal appeals court on Saturday left in place a preliminary injunction that blocks enforcement of President Donald Trump’s March 31 elections order in the 23 states that sued and in Washington, D.C. The ruling keeps the challenged parts of the order on hold in those jurisdictions while the case continues.

The order directed the Department of Homeland Security, including U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Social Security Administration to help compile and transmit state citizenship information to election officials. It also directed the Postal Service to begin rulemaking on mail-in and absentee ballots. The states that sued argued that the directive went beyond presidential authority and intruded on election rules set by states and Congress.

The First Circuit did not decide the case on the merits. Its ruling left the preliminary injunction in place, so the administration cannot enforce the challenged provisions in the jurisdictions covered by the lawsuit while the litigation moves forward.

The dispute is now a live test of how far a president can go by executive order in election administration. For now, the legal effect is narrow but clear: the challenged provisions remain frozen in the suing states and Washington, D.C., and federal agencies cannot use them there to change voter-eligibility checks or mail-ballot procedures.