Oregon — The Trump administration is expected to appeal after a federal judge permanently blocked key provisions of President Donald Trump’s March 2025 executive order on elections, ruling that the administration exceeded its constitutional authority by attempting to impose certain federal election requirements on states.
The decision is the latest legal setback for the executive order, which has been challenged in multiple federal courts by coalitions of states and voting rights organizations. Courts reviewing the order have generally concluded that while Congress has constitutional authority to regulate federal elections, the president cannot unilaterally impose new election requirements on states through executive action alone.
Following the ruling, Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read praised the decision, calling it a victory for state authority over elections.
“As I’ve been saying for months and a judge agreed today, the president does not have any power over how states run elections. The Constitution is clear: states and Congress set the rules for elections, not one man in the Oval Office.”
Read added that rather than pursuing measures he believes would make voting more difficult, “the president should instead focus on strengthening election security, supporting local election officials, and protecting every eligible American’s freedom to vote.”
The lawsuit was filed by a coalition of 19 states challenging President Trump’s March 2025 executive order. The same federal court had previously issued a preliminary injunction blocking portions of the order while the litigation proceeded.
According to court filings, the permanently blocked provisions included directives that would have required states to adopt documentary proof-of-citizenship requirements for federal voter registration and altered the handling of certain mail ballots. The court concluded those directives exceeded presidential authority because the Constitution assigns primary responsibility for administering elections to the states, while giving Congress authority to regulate the “Times, Places and Manner” of federal elections through legislation.
Read’s statement also referenced a separate lawsuit brought by Oregon and Washington in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. That court previously issued an injunction preventing enforcement of portions of the executive order affecting the two states.
The latest ruling does not prohibit Congress from enacting election legislation within its constitutional authority. Instead, it addresses whether a president may impose those requirements through executive order without congressional action.
With multiple federal courts now issuing injunctions against significant portions of the executive order, the litigation is expected to continue through the federal appeals process and could ultimately be considered by the U.S. Supreme Court.
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