In a victory for American voters, two key parts of President Donald Trump’s March 2025 executive order on elections have been successfully and permanently halted.
The president acted beyond his legal authority by unconstitutionally trying to mandate new voter registration requirements, direct an independent agency to make drastic changes to our elections, and disenfranchise military and overseas voters.
Campaign Legal Center, on behalf of a pro-voter coalition, successfully argued in front of a U.S. District Court that it is illegal for the president to set voting rules, direct the Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) to change federal election rules or require military and overseas voters to provide burdensome documentation when registering to vote or requesting an absentee ballot.
The EAC was designed by Congress to be independent and bipartisan. The president cannot legally dictate to the EAC what the federal voter registration form’s contents should be.
Nor can the president add burdensome documentation requirements for military and overseas voters that go beyond what Congress established in the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee and Voting Act (UOCAVA).
Here’s What Happened:
In April 2025, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Secure Families Initiative (SFI) and Arizona Students’ Association (ASA) — represented by Campaign Legal Center (CLC) and Democracy Defenders Fund (DDF) — asked the court to prevent the administration from taking any steps to enforce Section 2(a) and Section 3(d) of President Trump’s executive order.
Section 2(a) of the executive order purported to direct the EAC to require documents proving citizenship on the federal voter registration form.
The Constitution gives the states and Congress the express power to regulate our elections, not the president. As such, on April 24, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia entered a preliminary injunction blocking the president’s unlawful command to the EAC.
After further briefing, on Friday, October 31, 2025, the district court again concluded that the president has no constitutional authority to dictate the contents of the federal voter registration form, and it permanently struck down his unlawful attempt to do so, issuing a final judgment against the government.
On January 30, 2026, the district court further determined that Section 3(d) of the executive order, which directed the secretary of defense to require similar proof of citizenship documents on the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA), likewise violates the separation of powers and cannot be enforced.
The contents of the FPCA, which is used by military and overseas voters to both register to vote and request an absentee ballot, were set by Congress in the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA). The president has no power to make an end run around Congress and impose burdensome rules that violate the statute that Congress enacted.
These rulings by the court vindicate the longstanding constitutional principle that Congress and the states, not the president, set the rules for federal elections.
Campaign Legal Center, together with our clients and partners, is proud to have defended this core separation of powers principle that ensures our elections remain safe, secure and accurate.
Read more about our lawsuit to block the Trump administration's illegal election overreach.
With your support, we will continue to protect all Americans’ access to the ballot box and their freedom to vote.