An Obama-appointed federal judge on Wednesday issued a sweeping order blocking President Trump’s voter ID executive order, which would have required proof of citizenship for voter registration.
U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper, who is based in Boston, was nominated by former President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2010 via voice vote. With Wednesday’s order, she effectively turned her preliminary injunction into a permanent block on the administration’s attempt to overhaul elections without Congress.
Casper dismissed the administration’s claim that the lawsuit was premature, ruling that election oversight belongs to the states and Congress under the Constitution and that Trump’s requirements violated the separation of powers.
The Constitution “does not grant the President any specific powers over elections,” she wrote, according to the Associated Press.
The issue of late-arriving ballots is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, with a ruling expected as soon as Thursday. Justices will decide whether a Mississippi law that allows a grace period for mail-in ballots is conditional. A ruling in favor of the Republican National Committee, however, could upend voting rules in dozens of states.
“I hope the Chief Justice understands the path these rogue judges have charted for the judiciary,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said in response to the ruling.
In March 2025, President Trump signed an executive order requiring proof of citizenship to register for federal elections and mandating that ballots be received on election day. The order directed states to share voter data with federal agencies and cooperate in prosecuting election crimes, and threatened to withhold federal funding from noncompliant states.
“Despite pioneering self-government, the United States now fails to enforce basic and necessary election protections employed by modern, developed nations, as well as those still developing,” the directive read.
The ruling deals another blow to Trump’s election security agenda, coming hours after he refused to sign bipartisan housing legislation over the Senate’s failure to pass the SAVE America Act.
The president said in a mid-morning Truth Social post that he had canceled his planned press conference on Capitol Hill and would not be signing the housing bill, The Daily Wire reported.
“Today’s Housing News Conference and Signing is hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency,” Trump said.
Earlier Wednesday morning, he foreshadowed his frustrations with a post about Democrat Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s involvement with the housing bill.
“The Elizabeth ‘Pocahontas’ Warren centric housing bill, which is of minor importance compared to lower interest rates, and even FISA, pales in comparison to passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,” Trump wrote. “That is what Americans, both Dumocrats, Republicans, and everyone else, care about.”
The Department of Justice is expected to appeal the ruling.
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