A federal judge in Boston on Thursday blocked parts of President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting mail-in voting, delivering the latest legal setback to the administration’s push to centralize control over election procedures.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, ruled that provisions of the March order exceeded the president’s constitutional authority, according to NPR. The Constitution assigns the power to set rules for federal elections to state legislatures and Congress, not the president.
The executive order called for the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Postal Service to compile lists of adult U.S. citizens or eligible voters for each state. It also directed USPS to deliver mail-in ballots only to individuals on those lists.
In response, the Postal Service has proposed using information from state election officials to create voter rosters. Postmaster General David Steiner told lawmakers Wednesday that under the proposal, the Postal Service would refuse to deliver mail ballots from any state that does not turn over its absentee voter lists to the federal government.
The Trump administration is expected to appeal Talwani’s ruling. A separate appeal is already underway in a parallel set of lawsuits based in Washington, D.C.
In late May, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., declined to issue an emergency order blocking directives the administration had yet to implement, finding the challenge premature. Democrats are appealing that decision to the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia.
Thursday’s ruling is the latest in a series of court battles over Trump’s efforts to assert federal authority over elections ahead of the November midterm elections.