Judge to weigh Democrats’ bid to block Trump’s executive order on voting

By Jan Wolfe

WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order tightening rules on mail-in voting will face its first major court test on Thursday, with a federal judge hearing arguments from Democratic lawyers that it is unconstitutional and would disenfranchise millions of eligible voters.

A hearing in Washington on the lawsuit filed by Democratic Party leaders seeking to block the March 31 executive order is set for 2 p.m. ET (1800 GMT).

The lawsuit was filed by plaintiffs including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and the Democratic National Committee.

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, who will likely issue a written decision at a later date.

Trump, a Republican, has for years pushed the false claim that his 2020 election defeat was the result of widespread voter fraud and has called for stricter rules on mail-in voting ahead of the November midterm elections, in which his party will seek to preserve its narrow majority in Congress.

His executive order directs his administration to compile a list of certified U.S. citizens eligible to vote in each state and use federal data to help state election officials verify who is eligible to vote.

It also requires the U.S. Postal Service to deliver ballots only to voters on each state’s certified mail ballot list. States must also retain election-related records for five years.

The lawsuit argued Thursday was joined by two other lawsuits filed by voting rights groups challenging Trump’s executive order.

A similar lawsuit filed by a coalition of Democratic state attorneys is pending before a federal judge in Boston.

The Justice Department argued that the lawsuits were “premature” because federal agencies had not yet implemented Trump’s executive order.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Andrea Ricci)