A federal judge in the United States has stopped the Trump administration from withholding counterterrorism funding to compel states to change their election procedures.
On Monday, September 28, US District Judge Amir Ali in Washington, D.C., ruled that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) lack the congressional authority to attach election-related conditions to anti-terrorism grants.
Earlier in the year, DHS announced that 20 percent of more than $1 billion in grants meant to help state, local, and tribal governments prepare for terrorist attacks would be held back until recipients adopted specific voting reforms. The reforms included verifying the citizenship status of all registered voters and election officials, switching to hand-marked paper ballots, and conducting manual audits of five percent of votes cast.
The lawsuit was filed on August 17 by several local governments including Nashville and Davidson County in Tennessee, the City of Columbus in Ohio, and El Paso County and Harris County in Texas. Dallas and Travis counties later joined the suit.
In his 24-page decision, Judge Ali held that the conditions did not meet the legal requirement of being related to the purpose of the grant program and were therefore unlawful.
Nashville’s Director of Law, Tyler Yarbro, welcomed the judgment, stating that the ruling upholds the system of checks and balances and prevents Washington from dictating local election policy by threatening public safety funds.
Twenty-five state attorneys general have filed a separate but similar case, which is still pending. DHS and FEMA are yet to respond to the ruling.
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