Court blocks Trump order on mail-ballot delivery
A federal court blocked provisions of a Trump executive order that New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said would have interfered with state election systems.
Attorney General Raúl Torrez joined a multistate lawsuit challenging provisions that would have directed the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to voters on federal lists.
Organ Mountain News report
ALBUQUERQUE - A federal court has blocked provisions of a Trump administration executive order that New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said would have interfered with state election systems and mail-ballot delivery.
Torrez announced Thursday that the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts had ruled in a multistate lawsuit joined by New Mexico and 23 other states. The lawsuit challenged portions of an executive order signed March 31 that directed the U.S. Postal Service to develop lists of eligible voters and transmit mail ballots only to voters on those lists, according to the New Mexico Department of Justice.
The executive order also threatened states and election officials with criminal prosecution and the loss of federal funding if they did not comply, the department said.
“Upholding state control of our elections strengthens public confidence in a voting system that is fair, secure, and accessible, while reinforcing the constitutional balance of power between the federal government and the states,” Torrez said in a statement. “New Mexico has long been a leader in election integrity and security. We do not need federal interference that undermines state authority, disregards the will of voters, or makes it harder for eligible New Mexicans to cast a lawful ballot.”
The court declared the challenged sections of the executive order unconstitutional and beyond the president’s authority, according to the department. The court also blocked the defendants from implementing those sections for the Nov. 3, 2026, election and any earlier federal election in the states that brought the lawsuit.
Organ Mountain News
The coalition is expected to submit a proposed judgment to the court within seven days.
The lawsuit was co-led by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford and Washington Attorney General Nick Brown.
Torrez was joined by attorneys general from Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin, as well as the governor of Pennsylvania.
The ruling came one day after Torrez announced a separate court victory in another lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s March 25, 2025, executive order on elections. In that case, the court declared key provisions unconstitutional and inconsistent with federal law, including documentary proof-of-citizenship requirements for voter registration, limits on counting certain mail ballots and funding threats against states that did not comply.
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