Jane Wolfe
WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order tightening rules for mail-in voting will face its first major court test on Thursday, when a federal judge hears arguments from Democratic lawyers that the order is unconstitutional and will disenfranchise millions of eligible voters.
Democratic leaders have filed a lawsuit seeking to block the March 31 executive order, with a court hearing scheduled for 2 p.m. ET (1800 GMT) in Washington.
The case was brought by plaintiffs including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and the Democratic National Committee.
The lawsuit has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, who is likely to issue a written decision at a later date.
Trump, a Republican, has for years pushed false claims that his defeat in the 2020 election was due to widespread voter fraud and called for stricter rules on mail-in voting ahead of the November midterm elections, when his party will try to defend its slim majority in Congress.
His executive order directs his administration to compile a list of U.S. citizens confirmed 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 approved mail-in ballot list. States must also keep election-related records for five years.
The case argued Thursday has been merged with two other lawsuits filed by voting rights groups challenging Trump’s executive orders.
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 have not yet implemented Trump’s executive orders.
(Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Andrea Ricci)