Trump to meet House speaker in attempt to break legislative gridlock – US politics live

A federal judge in Boston has blocked implementation of Donald Trump ’s executive ⁠order directing his administration to compile a national voter file and to restrict the use of mail-in ballots, preventing it from taking force ahead of November’s midterm elections that will decide control of ⁠Congress.

US district judge Indira ⁠Talwani sided ​with several Democratic-led states who argued that the president is trying to unlawfully interfere with the states’ administration of federal elections.

Trump signed the order on 31 March after calling for years for tighter rules on voting by mail and pushing the false claim that ⁠his 2020 election defeat was the result of widespread voter fraud.

Repeated studies and investigations have shown there is no widespread voter fraud, including fraud through mail-in voting. The president himself voted by mail the week before signing his executive order.

Under the US constitution, states ​are assigned the role of administering ‌federal elections. His order directs ‌the US Department of Homeland Security to compile and transmit to the states a list ‌of confirmed US citizens eligible to vote in each state, derived from citizenship and naturalization records and other federal databases.

Trump’s order also requires the US Postal Service to only deliver ballots to voters on each state’s approved mail-in ballot list. USPS recently moved to implement Trump’s directive by issuing new proposed rules requiring states to provide the names and ‌barcodes tied to their mail-in ballots.

The order also directs the US Department of Justice to prioritize the investigation and prosecution of state and ​local election officials who issue federal ballots to people deemed “not eligible” to vote.

Voting rights groups sued the administration along with 23 states and the District of Columbia, arguing Trump’s order is unconstitutional and that he lacks any legal authority to assert presidential power over election administration.

The ⁠states alleged that allowing Trump’s order to stand would force them to ​rush to overhaul their ​election systems before November, causing chaos ​and likely disenfranchising eligible voters.

Talwani, an Obama appointee, ​ruled after a ‌different jurist, Trump-appointed ​US district judge Carl ​Nichols in Washington DC, declined to issue a preliminary injunction in a related lawsuit brought by Democrats challenging Trump’s order.

Nichols found that the Democrats’ request was premature as Trump’s order had yet to be implemented. They are appealing.