by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News April 24, 2025

A federal judge on Thursday partially blocked President Donald Trump’s election integrity executive order, including the requirement to add proof of citizenship to federal voter registration forms.

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, a Clinton appointee, sided with leftist voting rights groups and Democrats to grant a preliminary injunction to stop the citizenship requirement from moving forward while a lawsuit plays out.

“Our Constitution entrusts Congress and the States—not the President—with the authority to regulate federal elections,” the judge wrote in a 120-page opinion, while noting that Congress is currently debating legislation — the SAVE Act — that would require showing proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.

Earlier this month, the GOP-led House of Representatives, mostly along party lines, passed the SAVE Act. Democrats have vowed to block it through a filibuster in the Senate.

“No statutory delegation of authority to the Executive Branch permits the President to short-circuit Congress’s deliberative process by executive order,” wrote Kollar-Kotelly.

White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in a statement: “President Trump will keep fighting for election integrity, despite Democrat objections that reveal their disdain for commonsense safeguards like verifying citizenship. Free and fair elections are the bedrock of our Constitutional Republic, and we’re confident in securing an ultimate victory in the courtroom.”

On March 25, Trump signed his Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections executive order, which mandates voter ID and documentary proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections.

The order also audits and improves the security of voting machines, and orders the Department of Justice to enforce the law against states that count mail-in ballots received after Election Day. It also prioritizes the enforcement of laws preventing foreign money from influencing elections and federally funded organizations from lobbying or supporting candidates.

Additionally, the order includes a provision that “the Department of Homeland Security, in coordination with the DOGE Administrator, shall review each State’s publicly available voter registration list and available records concerning voter list maintenance activities as required by 52 U.S.C. 20507, alongside Federal immigration databases and State records requested, including through subpoena where necessary and authorized by law, for consistency with Federal requirements.”

Leftist nonprofit groups such as the Campaign Legal Center and the State Democracy Defenders Fund filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration to block the election integrity order. The DNC and other Democrats also filed suit.

Last year, Judge Kollar-Kotelly sentenced a 75-year-old woman to 24 months in prison for peacefully protesting outside a Washington, DC abortion clinic.

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  Judge blocks Trump’s order requiring proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections, WorldTribune.com