A federal judge in Massachusetts has moved to block key components of President Donald J. Trump’s executive order aimed at restoring integrity to America’s broken election system, halting efforts to require proof of citizenship for voter registration and tightening standards for ballot counting.

Judge Denise Casper—an Obama appointee—issued a sweeping injunction on Friday, declaring that only Congress, not the president, can make significant changes to election law. Her ruling stops enforcement of Trump’s order mandating that states verify citizenship before registering voters and prevents the Department of Defense from applying the same standard to U.S. military personnel voting from overseas.

Casper also struck down a provision penalizing states for accepting late-arriving mail-in ballots, even if they were postmarked by Election Day. Despite growing concerns over ballot security, Casper insisted that because Congress hasn’t banned the practice, Trump cannot intervene. “The Constitution does not grant the president any specific powers over elections,” she wrote, according to the Washington Times.

The ruling is being celebrated by California and its Democratic allies, who led the legal challenge. It’s also a second courtroom victory in as many days for California Governor Gavin Newsom. Just one day earlier, a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s effort to nationalize the California National Guard to restore order in riot-torn Los Angeles—though that decision was swiftly stayed by an appeals court.

President Trump issued the executive order in March, calling it a necessary move to protect the sanctity of the vote. “The right of American citizens to have their votes properly counted and tabulated, without illegal dilution, is vital to determining the rightful winner of an election,” he wrote.

Trump’s directive targeted noncitizen voting, instructing the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to require documentary proof of citizenship for anyone using the federal voter registration form—a step beyond the current honor-system checkbox in most states. He also sought similar standards for Americans voting while stationed or living abroad.

In response to Democrats’ increasing reliance on late-arriving mail-in ballots, Trump moved to establish Election Day as the firm deadline for ballot receipt and urged the attorney general to pursue enforcement against states skirting that principle.

Notably, several provisions in the executive order—such as those aimed at prosecuting election fraud and upgrading voting systems—were not challenged in court and remain in place, The Washington Times noted.

The judge’s ruling comes as alarming new data adds urgency to Trump’s concerns. A bombshell report by Fight Voter Fraud, a nonpartisan election integrity group, found nearly 298,000 instances of double voter registrations across multiple states from 2016 to 2022. Even more disturbing, thousands of individuals reportedly voted multiple times—some in up to four different states.

Critical swing states were not spared. According to Restoration of America:

• Wisconsin had 1,900 double registrations and 18 double-voters.
• Arizona reported 2,700 double registrations and 36 duplicate votes.
• Michigan showed nearly 3,000 double registrations and 23 double-voters.
• Georgia turned up 6,400 double registrations and 37 multiple votes.

But the worst offenders were predictably deep-blue bastions:

• New York saw 10,500 double registrations and 222 instances of duplicate voting.
• California led the pack with more than 36,000 double registrations and a stunning 732 cases of double-voting.

“All voters are disenfranchised by others that double vote,” said Linda Szynkowicz, CEO of Fight Voter Fraud. “Election officials cannot pick and choose which federal and state election laws they wish to follow. The public trust in elections needs to be restored and those not wanting to follow federal and state election laws should be removed... immediately for dereliction of duty.”

Despite Democrat obstruction and activist judges, President Trump remains committed to securing the vote and ensuring that American elections are once again decided by citizens, not chaos.