BOSTON: An appeals court declined on Saturday to allow US President Donald Trump’s administration to implement in 23 states his executive order that aims to tighten rules for mail-in voting ahead of November elections that will decide control of Congress.
The Boston-based Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the administration’s request to lift an injunction several Democratic-led states secured on June 25 from a lower-court judge who concluded that key parts of the Republican president’s order were unconstitutional.
In asking the court to pause Judge Indira Talwani’s ruling while it pursues an appeal, the Department of Justice had argued that because government agencies had yet to finalise actions and policies to implement Trump’s directive, any lawsuit challenging his order was premature.
The appeals court, in a 2-1 ruling, rejected that argument.
“As the district court reasoned, the (executive order) lays out a clear set of rapidly approaching deadlines by which states must coordinate with federal officials and comply with new voting procedures all while the states must also ensure that their officials and the public understand the evolving set of rules that would govern the upcoming September and November elections,” the judges wrote.
Overhaul of election rules
Trump signed the executive order in March after years of calling for tighter rules on voting by mail and pushing the false claim that his 2020 election defeat was the result of widespread voter fraud. Under the US constitution, states are assigned the role of administering federal elections.
That order came on top of other efforts by Trump to overhaul elections. He has made winning approval in Congress of a divisive package of voting restrictions called the SAVE America Act a priority.
Judges have blocked an earlier executive order he signed requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote and restricting the counting of mail ballots.
The March order directed the Department of Homeland Security to compile and transmit to the states a list of confirmed US citizens eligible to vote in each state.
Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2026