U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump nominee based in Washington, D.C., has declined to temporarily block President Trump’s executive order calling for restrictions on voting by mail.
The ruling, released Thursday, leaves in place an executive order that tests the limits of presidential power under the Constitution, at least for the time being.
A separate 2025 executive order on voting had previously been halted by courts, making this latest ruling a significant development in ongoing legal battles over election administration.
The executive order, issued March 31, calls for the Department of Homeland Security to work with the Social Security Administration to create lists of adult U.S. citizens in each state and send those lists to state election officials.
The order also directs the U.S. Postal Service, a federal agency independent of the president’s administration, to compile lists of eligible voters and only deliver mail-in ballots to people on those lists.
In his ruling, Nichols wrote: “The Court recognizes that the Postal Service may ultimately issue a final rule that directly affects Plaintiffs or their members, or that the Government may develop State Citizenship Lists that omit specific individuals due to particularized flaws.”
Nichols further wrote that “Plaintiffs may, of course, renew their motions if and when those future actions occur,” adding that plaintiffs could not currently show that preliminary injunctive relief was warranted.
Another federal judge based in Boston is separately preparing to issue a ruling in the coming weeks on a similar set of lawsuits challenging the order.
Since Trump signed the order, it has remained unclear how it would affect mail-in voting, which has already been used in state primaries during this year’s midterm election cycle.
In early May, the administration stated in a court filing that federal agencies were still deliberating how to carry out the order’s directives.
Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee that the Justice Department is working with other agencies to “make sure” the order’s goals are implemented.
Democrats, voting rights groups, and almost two dozen states, plus Washington, D.C., have filed five lawsuits challenging the executive order on constitutional grounds.
Those challenging the order argue that Article I of the Constitution grants state legislatures and Congress, not the president, the authority to set rules for federal elections.
Their lawsuits also contend that Trump’s order directs the U.S. Postal Service to make rules about election mail that would exceed the mailing agency’s existing authority.
Trump, who himself voted by mail in Florida in March, has said the order is intended to stop illegal voting by noncitizens in federal elections, which reviews and research have found to be incredibly rare.
