WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Campaign Legal Center and Democracy Defenders Fund sued the Executive Office of the President — alongside members of the president’s Cabinet and select federal agencies — on behalf of the League of United Latin American Citizens, Secure Families Initiative and Arizona Students’ Association. The complaint asserts that the most recent executive order on elections unconstitutionally violates the separation of powers and exceeds the president’s legal authority by attempting to limit access to mail-in voting and threatening the freedom to vote for millions of Americans.

The Constitution is clear: Only the states and Congress have the power to regulate elections, not the president. And only Congress has the power to regulate the U.S. mail. The Trump administration’s attempt to create a national voter registry threatens to disenfranchise millions of voters and lies outside the authority of the federal government.

This is especially so for the portion of the order that directs the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to play a role in elections. USPS is an independent agency regulated by Congress, and it cannot be controlled or compelled to act by the president.

Voting by mail is a safe, secure and accessible method used by millions of Americans — including the president himself — to cast their ballots. Military personnel have reliably used it for more than  150 years.

“The president does not have the authority to do this,” said Juan Proaño, chief executive officer of LULAC. “He is using the specter of noncitizen voting to make it harder for eligible Americans to vote. We know what this executive order is meant to do, and we will not stand by while he tries to unilaterally rewrite our election laws.”

"This is an unprecedented attempt by the president to not only unconstitutionally assert total authority over our elections, but also to dictate who can make their voices heard through an unlawful decree limiting mail-in voting,” said Danielle Lang, the vice president of voting rights and the rule of law at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center. “Attempts to command the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to work with independent agencies on efforts to disenfranchise eligible voters — including compiling a purported list of all voters using stale and outdated data and attempting to prevent the U.S. Postal Service from delivering ballots to eligible Americans — are simply unconstitutional and violate long-standing protections for Americans.”

"Military families make daily sacrifices in service to our country — including our willingness to frequently uproot our families every time the military stations us far away from home," said Sarah Streyder, executive director of Secure Families Initiative. "This executive order ignores that reality of military life, imposing unnecessary and redundant barriers to our ability to vote in the very democracy we serve to protect. This executive order will indisputably harm military voters, at least half of whom are Americans of color."

“The last time Trump tried to take over our elections with an executive order, we stopped him, and we are going to court to do the same thing here. This order is an attempt to drag election administration out of the hands of the states where it belongs, and into the White House where it has no place,” said Amb. Norm Eisen (ret.), co-founder and executive chair of Democracy Defenders Fund. “It tells federal agencies to assemble voter lists, block the delivery of mail ballots, and put state officials under threat of investigation or prosecution. We hope the court will act quickly to block all this before it disrupts elections and hurts voters.”

“Recent executive actions impacting voter registration and mail-in voting raise serious concerns for students across Arizona. Policies that introduce new layers of verification or rely on federal databases risk creating unnecessary barriers, especially for students whose addresses or records may not perfectly align across systems. As an organization, we know that for many students, we are their first introduction to civic participation. That responsibility matters. It means ensuring students feel confident, informed, and empowered—not confused, discouraged, or excluded,” said Jessica Mendoza, executive director of Arizona Students’ Association. “We believe voting is one of the most important and effective ways to exercise our rights in this country. Any effort that makes that process more complicated or inaccessible moves us in the wrong direction. Instead of adding barriers, we should be working to uplift them—meeting students where they are, removing obstacles, and expanding access to the democratic process. Students deserve a system that recognizes their realities and supports their participation, not one that makes it harder to have their voices heard.”

It is clear that the president is using this unlawful executive order to unconstitutionally shape the electorate to his will, limit access to mail voting for millions of Americans, and attempt to sow doubt in how our elections are run. Through a previous executive order, President Trump attempted to abuse his power by trying to establish unconstitutional proof of citizenship requirements for voter registration. This same coalition of nonprofits and voting rights groups successfully blocked two key provisions of that executive order. 

Read the complaint here.

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Democracy Defenders Fund brings together a nonpartisan team to work with national, state and local allies across the country to defend in real-time the foundations of our democracy.