AG Nessel Moves to Permanently Block President Trump’s Executive Order Restricting Mail Voting, Exerting Control over Elections

LANSING — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined a coalition of 23 attorneys general, along with the Governor of Pennsylvania, in filing a motion for summary judgment (PDF) in their ongoing challenge to President Trump’s executive order that unlawfully attempts to interfere with States’ constitutional authority to administer elections by restricting voter eligibility and mail voting to lists of voters pre-authorized by the federal government. The power to regulate elections belongs primarily to the States. The President has no constitutional authority to make or alter laws governing federal elections. Earlier this month, Attorney General Nessel joined the same coalition in bringing a lawsuit against the administration, arguing that Executive Order No. 14399, entitled Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections, is unconstitutional and beyond the authority of the President and other federal officials. The motion for summary judgment asks the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts to permanently block enforcement of the key provisions of the executive order on the grounds that the law is clear and the case can be decided without a trial.

“The Constitution is clear: states run elections, not the White House,” said Attorney General Nessel. “While President Trump has tried to unilaterally usurp powers he simply does not legally possess, this coalition has intervened to ensure the administration follows the rule of law. Our democracy belongs to the people, and I intend to make certain that the federal government cannot bypass the Constitution to serve the President’s political agenda or his desire to manipulate elections.”

The coalition’s motion for summary judgment argues, among other things, that:

1. The executive order’s attempt to dictate federal voter eligibility lists for each state, and its attempt to coerce states to deny ballots to voters excluded from those lists, unconstitutionally invades the coalition states’ power over their voter rolls.
2. The executive order’s attempt to charge the states and USPS with compiling mail voter eligibility lists, and its prohibition on USPS transmitting mail ballots from voters not on those lists, are unconstitutional and run headlong into states’ and Congress’s authority to regulate elections and Congress’s power to regulate USPS.
3. The executive order threatens serious injury to the coalition states, including harms to the states’ sovereign powers to administer their elections, fiscal injuries from states being forced to administer elections under the federal government’s new procedures, legal jeopardy to states and their elections officials from the executive order’s directives to investigate and prosecute those who issue ballots to individuals purportedly ineligible to vote in a federal election, and harms to states’ reputations and public trust.

The court has ordered the Trump administration to file its response and related motions by Thursday, May 7, 2026. A hearing on the motions is scheduled for Tuesday, June 2, 2026, at 10 AM ET. The complete scheduling order is available here (PDF).

Joining Attorney General Nessel in filing this motion are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as Governor of Pennsylvania.

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