President Donald Trump's executive order seizing federal control of mail-in voting is in peril after a federal judge in Massachusetts gave it a cold reception in court this week.
According to Bloomberg Law, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani "pressed the Justice Department on the president’s order for the Department of Homeland Security to draw up a list of confirmed citizens, which states could use in creating a list of eligible mail-in voters to provide to the US Postal Service," sounding skeptical that this was a valid exercise.
"You'll have a small list," said Talwani, an appointee of former President Barack Obama.
Under Trump's executive order, states would have to provide these lists within 30 days of an election, and the Postal Service would directly block sending ballots to anyone not on these lists — a requirement and timeline which could trigger logistical chaos if allowed to go into effect immediately.
This comes just a week after U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, an appointee of Trump, declined to block the order, reasoning that it was only initiating a rulemaking process and hadn't yet caused anything illegal to happen.
It also comes as the Supreme Court considers a case that could make it vastly more difficult for mail ballots to be counted in some states.
