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US Midterms 2026
15SEP

Trump's voting order blocked for good

2 min read
14:21UTC

Judge Denise Casper in Boston turned her injunction of Trump's 31 March voting executive order into a permanent block, ruling the president has no authority over how states run elections.

PoliticsDeveloping
Key takeaway

A permanent injunction removes Trump's voting executive order as a route to his citizenship-check goal.

Judge Denise Casper, a federal district judge in Boston, converted her earlier injunction of Donald Trump's 31 March voting executive order into a permanent block on Wednesday 24 June, ruling that the president has no authority over how states run their elections 1. The order had sought to impose a documentary proof-of-citizenship requirement and other voting changes by executive fiat. Casper's ruling landed the same day the Sixth Circuit shut the litigation route to detailed voter files.

The executive order had already been largely blocked in the spring, when courts enjoined most of its provisions; Casper's ruling makes that block permanent and removes the order as a fallback. The White House has meanwhile stopped issuing new election-related executive orders, having signed none through the late-April window when its programme first stalled . Election policy has shifted instead into the courts, where The Administration keeps losing, and into Congress, where it is stuck.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Back in March, Trump signed an executive order trying to change how states run elections, including a rule about proof of citizenship for voters. Judges in three different courts quickly blocked most of it, ruling that a president cannot rewrite election rules by decree because the Constitution gives that power to states and Congress instead. One judge, Denise Casper in Boston, had only paused the order temporarily while the case continued. She has now made that pause permanent, meaning this version of the order cannot come back into force unless a higher court reverses her.

What could happen next?
  • Consequence

    Trump's 31 March voting order cannot be reissued in its original form without a higher court reversing Casper, closing off the one provision, the DHS and DOGE voter-file review, that had continued operating.

First Reported In

Update #11 · Money uncapped, ballot rules untouched

ABC News· 1 Jul 2026
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Causes and effects
This Event
Trump's voting order blocked for good
The permanent block removes the executive order as a fallback route to the administration's proof-of-citizenship voting goal.
Different Perspectives
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Cook Political Report
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Department of Justice
Department of Justice
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Francisco Aguilar
Francisco Aguilar
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Brett Kavanaugh
Brett Kavanaugh
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Robert Onder and the federal plaintiffs
Robert Onder and the federal plaintiffs
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Richard Von Glahn and People Not Politicians
Richard Von Glahn and People Not Politicians
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