Judge hands Trump mail-ballot win for now as Democrats’ next move looms

By Fox News · Fox News

A federal judge declined Thursday to block President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting mail ballots, delivering a blow to Democrats who claim the order could disenfranchise millions of voters. The executive order, signed March 31, directs the Department of Homeland Security to compile a list of all adult U.S. citizens living in each state and would direct USPS to deliver mail ballots only to individuals appearing on the lists. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, an appointee of President Donald Trump , ruled that the plaintiffs' request for an injunction against the order came too early. "Given that the Executive Order does not command Plaintiffs to do anything, and that no agency has yet acted pursuant to the Order in a way that could harm Plaintiffs, they have not suffered any harm at present," Nichols wrote. "For the foregoing reasons, the Court denies Plaintiffs’ Motions for a Preliminary Injunction." WITHIN MINUTES OF TRUMP SIGNING VOTER DATABASE ORDER, DEM STATES THREATEN LAWSUITS Democrats and voting rights groups argued that, under the Constitution, state legislatures and Congress are responsible for regulating federal elections , not the president. The order, according to the plaintiffs, could also force USPS to make rules about elections that go beyond its authority. Trump’s executive order, meanwhile, frames itself as an attempt to enforce federal voting laws, which the president says the executive branch is obligated to do under Article II of the Constitution. Though Democratic plaintiffs claimed in court that the order could infringe on the constitutional rights of states to regulate their own elections, Nichols ruled the claim too speculative at the current moment. The judge, however, did not rule on the merits of the Democratic arguments and said that they could demand an injunction again once the federal government begins the process of actually implementing the executive order. REPUBLICAN SENATORS BLAST DEMOCRATS FOR 'FEAR-MONGERING' OVER ELEC…