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A federal judge vacated a Trump administration rule that would back 20% of counterterrorism funds allocated to a state unless the state and certain municipalities made certain changes in how they administer elections.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency exceeded its legal authority "by conditioning the counterterrorism grant funds on changes to routine election administration," Judge Amir Ali said in his decision in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
Counties in Texas and Tennessee, and the city of Columbus, Ohio, sued FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security to block the rule.
A federal judge on Monday vacated a Trump administration rule that would hold back a portion of counterterrorism funds to states unless states and certain municipalities made certain changes to how they administer elections.
In his ruling, Judge Amir Ali said the Federal Emergency Management Agency exceeded its legal authority "by conditioning the counterterrorism grant funds on changes to routine election administration."
Ali also said FEMA, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, had not shown how the desired changes to election administration related to stopping terrorism.
Ali's decision in U.S. District Court in Washington came in response to a lawsuit challenging FEMA's new rule filed in August by two Texas counties, one in Tennessee, and the city of Columbus, Ohio.
The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, which represents some of the plaintiffs in the suit against FEMA and DHS, said on Aug. 17 that FEMA's conditions "violate the Constitution, jeopardize public safety, and put election security at risk."
"Over the last two years, courts have largely blocked the administration's repeated attempts to seize congressional and state authority over elections," the Brennan Center said at the time.
"Now, DHS is holding public safety funding hostage in order to coerce states and local governments into adopting some of the very policies that the administration has tried and failed to impose."
A federal judge vacated a Trump administration rule that would back 20% of counterterrorism funds allocated to a state unless the state and certain municipalities made certain changes in how they administer elections.