Judge Blocks Trump Administration Election Pressure Campaign

A federal court has temporarily restricted the Trump administration's efforts to pressure election officials across the United States, barring federal agencies from threatening criminal prosecution or demanding changes to lawful ballot processing ahead of the November 3, 2026, midterm elections. U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson issued the emergency order Friday evening in California to protect state and local election administration.

The ruling prevents the Justice Department (DOJ) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from requiring election authorities to separate ballots, remove registered voters from voter rolls or suspend ballot processing based on allegations that individuals are ineligible to vote. The restrictions remain effective through November 16.

Thompson also prohibited federal officials from using threats, intimidation or coercion to influence election workers. The administration must notify the judge of search warrant applications, grand jury subpoenas and other demands seeking access to election materials or ballots connected to its voter eligibility investigations.

In explaining the decision, Thompson identified potential consequences for legitimate voters if federal agencies continued their actions.

"Although Defendants claim that their actions are designed to halt unlawful voting by noncitizens, their actions are likely to have the effect of interfering with election administration and disenfranchising lawful voters," said U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson.

Thompson also addressed the administration's position that election officials could face federal criminal prosecution for failing to prevent alleged unlawful voting. She emphasized the distinction between administering elections according to established law and allegations concerning individual voters' eligibility.

"When state and local government employees perform the work of distributing, processing, or counting ballots or otherwise administering the 2026 midterm election" in accordance with the law, "they do not violate federal criminal law even if a particular ballot belongs to a registered voter alleged by Defendants to be ineligible to vote," Thompson wrote.

The eight-page order followed complaints from a coalition of labor unions and civil rights organizations, including the NAACP and the League of United Latin American Citizens. The groups filed the lawsuit in the Northern District of California, arguing that the administration's actions violate the Voting Rights Act and improperly interfere with states' constitutional authority over election administration.

The dispute centers partly on a DHS data-matching operation that compares state voter registration lists against federal government records. Election officials have challenged the reliability of the resulting lists, saying they identify suspected noncitizens but also include American citizens.

The administration has also increased pressure on state governments through letters sent to 29 states and Washington, DC. According to the reports, the DOJ threatened investigations and demanded preservation of election records and voter information from the 2024 election. Federal law already requires jurisdictions to retain election records for 22 months.

California and Washington have become central to separate legal disputes over the federal government's demands to isolate ballots associated with suspected noncitizens. In California, the administration sought to prevent the counting of ballots belonging to thousands of voters whose citizenship status it questioned.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the administration's demands in the California dispute, ruling that federal authorities lacked the right to intervene in the state's process for verifying citizenship. The separate Washington case remains pending, according to NBC News.

The temporary restraining order is scheduled to expire November 16, nearly two weeks after Election Day on November 3. The Justice Department had not provided a comment to CNN when the report was published.