Attorney General Ellison wins court order striking down Trump executive order on elections
Wins permanent injunction in April 2025 lawsuit against executive order that attempted to force states to impose documentary proof of citizenship when voting and ignore mail ballots legally cast before Election Day but received shortly afterwards
June 24, 2026 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and a coalition of 19 attorneys general have won a court order that permanently blocks key provisions of President Trump’s 2025 Executive Order on elections from taking effect. On March 25, 2025, President Trump issued the Executive Order No. 14248, which attempted to conscript state election officials in the President’s campaign to impose documentary proof of citizenship requirements for voter registration, force states to ignore mail ballots that are cast by Election Day but received by election officials just days afterward, and withhold various streams of federal funding from the states if they refuse to comply.
Attorney General Ellison and the coalition filed a lawsuit challenging the Executive Order in April 2025, secured a preliminary injunction blocking unlawful provisions of the Executive Order in June 2025, and successfully defeated the Trump Administration’s motion to dismiss the coalition’s lawsuit in September 2025. Attorney General Ellison and the coalition then filed a motion for a permanent injunction in December 2025. The court heard oral argument in February 2026 and granting Attorney General Ellison’s and the coalition’s motion today.
"President Trump doesn’t like something Minnesotans are rightfully proud of: we run the fairest, safest, and highest-turnout elections in the country,” said Attorney General Ellison. “When Trump violated the law by attempting to take control of key parts of our elections process, I took him to court, and I’m gratified the court has shut down Trump's illegal power grab. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: given Trump’s attempt to overturn a free and fair election in 2020 because he did not like the result, allowing Trump to take over our elections would be akin to appointing an arsonist to serve as our fire chief. As long as I’m attorney general, I won’t let it happen.”
Joining Attorney General Ellison in the April 2025 lawsuit that permanently blocked Executive Order No. 14248 are California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, who co-led it, and the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
Second lawsuit defending Minnesota elections against unconstitutional Trump overreach
On April 3, 2026 — one year to the day after filing the lawsuit that Attorney General Ellison and the coalition won in court today — Attorney General Ellison joined another coalition of 23 attorneys general and the Governor of Pennsylvania in filling a lawsuit challenging Executive Order No. 14399, the second elections-related Executive Order that President Trump issued. Executive Order No. 14399 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 coalition filed a motion for summary judgment later in April 2026 to permanently block those changes, which the court has yet to rule on.
