Trump’s voter purge plan crushed in major election ruling

A federal judge on Friday gave a thumbs-down to President Donald Trump's directive requiring federal voter registration forms to include a requirement to provide proof-of-citizenship paperwork.

According to PBS News, "U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington, D.C., sided with Democratic and civil rights groups that sued the Trump administration over his executive order to overhaul U.S. elections," determining that this order would violate the constitutional separation of powers because the executive branch doesn't have power over election administration.

“Because our Constitution assigns responsibility for election regulation to the States and to Congress, this Court holds that the President lacks the authority to direct such changes,” wrote Kollar-Kotelly, who has been appointed to various federal judgeships under former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.

Trump's order would have been carried out by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. But under the ruling, they are permanently blocked from making such a change to federal voter registration forms.

Over the years, the president has tried to expand his crusade against immigrants to a number of facets of government administration.

He also triggered a massive controversy in his first term by seeking to add a citizenship question to the U.S. Census, despite warnings from experts that this would reduce response rates and make census data less accurate; the Supreme Court ultimately prohibited this change. And this week, Trump's Education Department issued guidance barring any employees of public service sector organizations that are found to be involved in illegal activity, including unauthorized immigration, from receiving student loan forgiveness.