A D.C. Circuit panel on Tuesday rejected an effort by top Democrats to stop President Trump’s executive order aimed at verifying voter citizenship and tightening mail-in voting rules.
The three-judge panel upheld U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols’ earlier decision denying a preliminary injunction, ruling that the Democratic National Committee, other party committees, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries failed to show any imminent or irreparable harm because neither the Department of Homeland Security nor the U.S. Postal Service has taken action yet.
Democrats filed suit the day after the executive order was signed, arguing the new requirements would make it harder for some lawful voters to cast ballots. The appeals court found those claims premature, comparing them to the Supreme Court’s 2020 ruling in Trump v. New York that blocked a challenge to a similar unripe policy.
The panel noted that the executive order is not self-executing and only directs agencies to act “to the extent feasible and consistent with applicable law, including but not limited to the Privacy Act of 1974.” That means the order itself requires the agencies to follow the very legal limits the Democrats are worried about. If the agencies later implement the order in a way that violates federal law or the Constitution, the court said the plaintiffs can return and seek relief.
This D.C. Circuit ruling is separate from a different case decided a day earlier in the 1st Circuit, where several states won a temporary block on key parts of the same executive order. It also comes after a recent D.C. Circuit decision holding that challenges to Postal Service rule changes must first go through the Postal Regulatory Commission before they can be heard in federal court.
