New York Attorney General Letitia James, joined by the attorneys general of 22 other states and the District of Columbia, as well as the governor of Pennsylvania, filed suit to block President Trump's executive order titled "Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections," signed earlier this month. The coalition is asking the court to declare the order unconstitutional and bar federal agencies from enforcing it.
The order at the center of the lawsuit directs federal agencies to create and maintain master federal voter rolls by state and pressures states to rely on those rolls under threat of investigation, prosecution, or the withholding of federal funds. It also directs the United States Postal Service to refuse to deliver mail ballots from voters not included on a federal voter roll, and requires states to preserve election records for longer periods than existing law mandates — again backed by threats of enforcement action or funding cuts.
The coalition argues the order violates the Constitution by attempting to override states' authority to administer elections and by directing USPS to block ballot delivery based on federal criteria outside states' control. The states contend that election administration is a complex, state-run process and that the demands in the order would force last-minute overhauls to election systems on dangerously short notice — potentially within weeks of primary elections and months before mail-in voting begins for the 2026 general election.
The coalition also warns that threatening state and local election officials with investigation or prosecution for following state law creates a chilling effect that could undermine the administration of elections. Attorney General James said in a statement that no president has the power to rewrite the rules on his own and characterized the order as an attempt to disenfranchise voters and sow distrust in the electoral system.
The filing is not the coalition's first clash with the administration over election-related executive action. The press release notes that James and 18 other attorneys general already secured a court order blocking a prior executive order on elections last year, and that courts have repeatedly affirmed the president cannot bypass Congress or the Constitution to rewrite the rules governing federal elections.
Joining the lawsuit are the attorneys general of California, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, as well as the governor of Pennsylvania.