Here we go again—another judge sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong, derailing President Donald Trump’s efforts to make our elections secure. A federal judge in Washington, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly — a Bill Clinton appointee — just slammed the brakes on Trump’s executive order that would’ve required proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections.
Trump signed the order in March, pointing out that the U.S. “fails to enforce basic and necessary election protections” compared to countries like India or Brazil, which tie voter ID to biometric databases.
He’s not wrong.
There's no denying that our elections are a mess, with some states practically begging for fraud by relying on self-attestation for citizenship. Trump’s plan was simple: make voters show a passport or other ID to register. It’s not rocket science; it’s what you’d expect from a country serious about democracy. Yet Kollar-Kotelly sided with the radical who claimed Trump’s executive order would disenfranchise voters.
Disenfranchise whom, exactly? Illegal voters?
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The judge granted a preliminary injunction, halting the citizenship requirement while lawsuits drag on. She also blocked a provision that would’ve checked the citizenship of public assistance enrollees before handing them voter registration forms.
Michael Gates, counsel for the Trump administration, said in the hearing a preliminary injunction wasn’t warranted because the order hadn’t been implemented and a citizenship requirement would not be on the federal voter registration form for many months.
Roman Palomares, national president of one of the nonpartisan plaintiffs in the case, the League of United Latin American Citizens, said Thursday the judge’s decision was a “victory for voters.”
“Efforts to silence the voice and votes of the U.S. electorate must not stand because our democracy depends on all voters feeling confident that they can vote freely and that their vote will be counted accurately,” he said in a statement.
The decision comes as state and local election officials from across the country are meeting to consider the implications of Trump’s executive order on their work.
The left claims that Trump is overstepping his authority, citing the Constitution’s Elections Clause, which gives states control over elections. But Trump’s order wasn’t about seizing control; it was about setting a federal standard for federal elections. The Election Assistance Commission, which the plaintiffs insist is “independent,” already sets guidelines. Why shouldn’t it enforce a basic check to keep noncitizens from voting? The real overreach here is from judges like Kollar-Kotelly, who think they can micromanage election policy from the bench.
Not every part of Trump’s order got the boot.
“[Kollar-Kotelly] also blocked part of the Republican president’s executive order requiring public assistance enrollees to have their citizenship assessed before getting access to the federal voter registration form,” the Associated Press reported. “But she denied other requests from a group of Democratic plaintiffs, including refusing to block Trump’s order to tighten mail ballot deadlines. Also denied in the order was the Democrats’ request to stop Trump from directing the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Government Efficiency to review state voter lists alongside immigration databases.”
Nevertheless, this ruling is a slap in the face to every American who wants elections they can trust. The left’s playbook is to scream “voter suppression” whenever someone tries to pull the curtain back on fraud.
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