Attorney General Ellison wins lawsuit against second Trump executive order on elections
Prevails in blocking March 2026 executive order that attempted to develop federal list of supposed eligible voters in each state and order USPS to restrict voting by mail to its own list of supposed eligible voters, and threatened elections officials with criminal prosecution for refusing to comply
Ruling marks second court win for AG Ellison in two days in blocking unconstitutional and unlawful Trump EOs on elections
June 25, 2026 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison won his lawsuit today against President Trump’s unlawful Executive Order that attempted to interfere with states’ constitutional authority to administer elections. The court granted the motion for summary judgment that Attorney General Ellison and a coalition of 23 states filed in their April 2026 lawsuit that challenged the Administration’s attempt to restrict voting to individuals on lists pre-authorized by the federal government and restrict voting by mail to lists maintained by the U.S. Postal Service.
Today’s court victory comes after yesterday’s victory for Attorney General Ellison and a similar coalition that permanently blocks President Trump’s March 2025 Executive Order that attempted to require documentary proof of citizenship requirements for voter registration and withhold various streams of federal funding from the states if they fail to comply. The court declared key provisions of that Executive Order unconstitutional and inconsistent with federal law.
“For the second time in two days, a court has decisively ruled that President Trump cannot direct Minnesota’s or any state’s election, or order other federal agencies to do so,” Attorney General Ellison said. “These executive orders represented Trump’s clearly unconstitutional and illegal attempt to rig America’s elections to make sure only Trump-approved voters get to vote. That’s a violation of every principle that America’s freedoms are based on — and Trump already showed us on January 6 what that would look like. I was proud to fight this order in court and I’m very glad the court has clearly ruled in favor of what American history has repeatedly shown — that the people’s power to choose our leaders fairly is greater that Donald Trump’s illegal attempts to rob us of it.”
On March 31, 2026, President Trump signed Executive Order No. 14399, which purported to develop lists of eligible voters in each state and directing the U.S. Postal Service, an independent federal agency, to develop its own such list and transmit mail ballots only to those on the list. The Executive Order also threatened states and elections officials with criminal prosecution and the loss of federal funding if they do not comply with his demands. In their lawsuit challenging the unlawful Executive Order, Attorney General Ellison and the coalition argued that the Order would require states to act contrary to their own election laws, voter roll procedures, and vote-by-mail systems.
The court’s decision declares the challenged sections of the Executive Order to be unconstitutional and beyond the President’s authority and enjoins the Defendants from implementing them with respect to the November 3, 2026 election, as well as any earlier federal election in the plaintiff states, including Minnesota.
Attorney General Ellison was joined in filing this lawsuit, which was co-led by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, and Washington Attorney General Nick Brown, by the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, and the Governor of Pennsylvania.
