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AG Brown: Federal judge halts Trump’s push to create federal voter list

By
FOX 13 Seattle
Nick Brown
Published June 25, 2026 1:52 PM PDT
Published June 25, 2026 1:52 PM PDT

The Brief

    • A federal judge granted a summary judgment halting President Donald Trump's March 31 executive order, which sought to create a federal voter list and restrict mail ballot deliveries through the U.S. Postal Service.
    • The judge ruled the order unconstitutional, agreeing with a coalition of states that the directive legally voided the separation of powers by taking election rules out of the hands of states and Congress.
    • The ruling applies to the current midterm election cycle and follows a separate court decision the previous day that blocked another executive order requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration.

A federal judge on Thursday halted President Donald Trump’s executive order that sought to create a federal voter list and limit who can receive a mail ballot.

U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani sided with a coalition of nearly two dozen states, co-led by Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown, that challenged the Republican president’s order in granting a summary judgment. Her ruling applies to this year’s midterm election cycle.

"The President’s attempt to seize control of our elections by selectively refusing to deliver mail-in ballots was unconstitutional and dangerous­—and the court was right to strike it down," said Nick Brown. "We will continue to defend the right of eligible Washington voters to participate in our democracy."

What is the federal voter list?

President Trump signed an executive order on March 31 requiring the U.S. Postal Service to only deliver election ballots to households on pre-approved lists of voters for each state. This would take election management out of the hands of states, where it was first vested in Article 1, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution:

"The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators."

Ultimately, if states refuse to administer elections, Congress has the authority to intervene.

The argument for states to handle their own elections

Plaintiffs argued in two lawsuits that Trump’s order should be found unconstitutional because the states and Congress, not the president, have the power to set election rules. The judge agreed, saying in her ruling that the provisions of Trump’s order seeking to create a federal list of eligible voters and using the U.S. Postal Service to determine who can receive a mail ballot are "legally void" because they "unconstitutionally violate the separation of powers."

This particular ruling comes just a day after another ruling prohibited an executive order he had signed last year that would have required people to show documents proving their citizenship when registering to vote.

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The Source: Information in this story comes from the Office of Washington Attorney General Nick Brown, as well as from the Associated Press.

Nick BrownDonald J. TrumpWashingtonNews