Judge Halts Trump Administration's Plan to Tie Terror Grants to Election Rules
A federal judge stopped the Trump administration from conditioning anti-terrorism grants for local governments on adopting its preferred election-administration changes.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Amir Ali blocked the Trump administration’s effort to link federal counterterrorism funding to specific election-administration measures. The Department of Homeland Security had announced it would retain 20% of grant money for state and local governments until they adopted requirements such as hand-marked paper ballots, manual audits of at least 5% of ballots, and voter-roll checks against a DHS database.
Ali ruled that the conditions overstepped the authority of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, siding with counties in Texas, Ohio and Tennessee that sued. A coalition of mostly Democratic-controlled states has also filed a separate suit, which is still under review. The $1.1 billion in grant programs have existed for years and were not designed for election security. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin defended the plan as a safeguard against foreign interference, while the Justice Department declined to comment.
How the sides frame it
MODERATE AGREEMENTLeft-leaning coverage frames the injunction as a political setback to the administration’s push to expand federal influence, while centrist coverage focuses on the legal finding that FEMA exceeded its authority.
LEFT
Frames the ruling as a setback to the administration’s effort to expand federal influence over elections
CENTER
Frames the ruling as a legal decision that FEMA exceeded its authority to withhold grant money
The left emphasises
- setback for the administration's effort to expand federal influence
- policy overstepped the statutory powers of FEMA
- broader lawsuit by mostly Democratic-controlled states continues
