Attorney General Raúl Torrez Joins Coalition to Block Executive Order Restricting Mail Voting

Albuquerque, NM – Attorney General Raúl Torrez joined a coalition of 23 attorneys general today, along with the Governor of Pennsylvania, in filing a motion for summary judgement 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. Today’s motion asks the Court 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.

“This executive order is a direct overreach into the constitutional authority of states to run their own elections,” said Attorney General Raúl Torrez. “Our democracy depends on fair access to the ballot, and that includes lawful, accessible mail voting options. We are asking the Court to put a permanent stop to this unlawful interference and reaffirm that election administration belongs to the states—not the federal government.”

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Earlier this month, Attorney General Torrez joined the coalition in bringing a lawsuit against the current 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 states assert that the power to regulate elections belongs primarily to the states and that the president has no constitutional authority to make or alter laws governing federal elections.

The coalition’s motion includes the following arguments:

• 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.
• 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.
• 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. A copy of the motion for summary judgment is attached.

Today’s motion was co-led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, and Washington Attorney General Nick Brown. They were joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin, as well as Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.

Motion for Summary Judgment