
By law, only U.S. citizens are allowed to vote in federal elections. But left-leaning Massachusetts Judge Denise J. Casper ruled on Friday that wannabe voters should not have to prove they are citizens by showing documents like a passport, a state-issued photo ID like a driver’s license, or a military ID.
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In their lawsuit the states took aim at Trump’s order directing the federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to include a documentary proof of citizenship requirement on the federal voter registration form, which would require state employees to assess citizenship — see the documents — before letting applicants register to vote when they apply for public assistance programs. (Those receiving public assistance are automatically handed a federal voter registration card when they apply for services.)
The same executive order has other components, including a directive that Attorney General Pam Bondi take action against states that count absentee or mail-in ballots received after Election Day in the final tabulation of votes and a measure to require proof of citizenship and state eligibility to register as an overseas voter under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA). But Casper nixed those too.
In April U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly barred the order’s critical proof-of-citizenship requirement for the federal voter registration application and, according to Politico, “another provision that instructs federal agencies not to assist individuals with registering unless they can assess that those people are U.S. citizens.”
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Casper granted the states a preliminary injunction, preventing Trump’s order from being implemented, saying the states are likely to prevail in further court proceedings. She said implementing better voter ID would likely cause irreparable harm to states, because it would be complicated and expensive.
“The Executive Order will require the States to immediately update their voter registration processes and databases, issue new guidance, conduct trainings and ‘fund and mount public education campaigns to counter confusion and disenfranchisement resulting from the changes,’” Casper wrote in her opinion.
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“The Executive Branch now insists that this ‘standard oath’ is not a substitute for proof of eligibility. Rather, according to the Executive Branch, the standard oath is ‘merely a mechanism by which applicants are held accountable for the veracity of all statements they make in completing required application documents.’” She agreed with the states that because Congress made the application form a postcard, it did not intend to require documents.
Incredibly, Casper, touted as the first black female judge to serve on the federal bench in Massachusetts, made the racist claim in her order that asking people to provide citizenship documents is too expensive for black people, costing up to $165 for a passport in Rhode Island, and $22 for a birth certificate in the City of Providence.
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Unfortunately, it appears that Democrats have found the perfect strategy for undermining election integrity and the Trump agenda more broadly: Moving from one jurisdiction to the next until a leftist district court judge in one venue hands Dems a victory that is a loss for Americans everywhere.
* Original Article:
https://thefederalist.com/2025/06/13/dems-find-second-judge-to-block-more-of-trumps-order-enforcing-election-law/