Civil rights groups sue Trump administration over order to limit mail-in voting

Source: The Guardian

Thu 2 Apr 2026 09.00 EDT
Last modified on Thu 2 Apr 2026 10.23 EDT


A coalition of civil rights groups sued the Trump administration on Thursday, saying that a new executive order to limit mail-in voting is unconstitutional. The order, which Trump signed on Tuesday, instructs the federal government to come up with a list of eligible citizens who can vote in each state. It also instructs the US Postal Service to only transmit mail-in ballots to people on that list.

“In effect, the Order seeks to interpose a federal screening regime between voters and the ballot box by empowering a federal mail carrier to withhold those voters’ ballots,” says the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Massachusetts. “The Constitution forbids this attempted usurpation of power. The President’s role is to execute the laws enacted by Congress – not to create new ones.

Because the Executive Order exceeds the President’s constitutional and statutory authority and intrudes upon powers reserved to Congress and the States, it is unlawful and must be set aside.”. Article I, section 4 of the constitution says that states have control over how elections are run, and authorizes Congress to pass laws for federal contests.

The constitution gives the president no power over elections. “We understand this order to be an illegal and unconstitutional attempt by the President to seize control of processes that are basically run by the states,” said Davin Rosborough, deputy director of the Voting Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, and a lawyer representing the plaintiffs in the suit. “It’s a recipe for chaos and ultimately disenfranchisement.”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/02/civil-rights-groups-mail-in-voting-trump-lawsuit