Democrats sue Trump administration over election executive order
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Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias and other lawyers at his firm contend that the order imposes "radical changes" on how Americans register for voting, cast ballots, and engage in democracy.
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Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer speaks at a news conference at Carillon Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Huntington, New York, on March 31, 2025 (AP)
The Democratic National Committee has filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., accusing the Trump administration of overstepping its authority with a March 25 order that mandates voters prove US citizenship, bans states from counting mail-in ballots received after Election Day, and threatens to withhold federal funding from non-compliant states.
Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias and other lawyers at his firm contend that the order imposes "radical changes" on how Americans register for voting, cast ballots, and engage in democracy, all of which are illegal and "threaten to disenfranchise lawful voters."
Plaintiffs in the action include US Senator Chuck Schumer and US Representative Hakeem Jeffries, who lead the Democratic minority in the US Senate and House of Representatives, respectively.
A spokeswoman for the Justice Department stated that "the Department of Justice has vigorously defended President Trump's executive actions, including the order to Preserve and Protect the Integrity of American Elections, and will continue to do so."
The Trump administration previously claimed that the ban would allegedly prohibit foreign nationals from meddling in US elections.
Trump has always questioned the American election system and continues to erroneously claim that his 2020 defeat to Democratic President Joe Biden was the result of extensive fraud.
The president and his Republican supporters have repeatedly made false assertions about massive non-citizen voting, which is prohibited and seldom occurs.
In their case, the Democrats claimed that the United States Constitution authorizes individual states and Congress, not the president, to regulate how federal elections are handled. They argued it was vital to prevent presidents from attempting to modify election laws to benefit themselves.
"The Framers of our federal Constitution foresaw that self-interested and self-aggrandizing leaders might seek to corrupt our democratic system of government to expand and preserve their own power," the lawsuit detailed.
Earlier on Monday, voting rights organizations, including the Campaign Legal Center and the State Democracy Defenders Fund, filed a separate legal challenge to the executive order.
