On March 25, President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order that the federal voter registration form should be altered to provide that applicants must attach proof of citizenship. On April 3, nineteen states filed a federal lawsuit to overturn the Executive Order, on the grounds that the President has no authority to alter the form. State of California v Trump, U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, 1:25cv-10810. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper, an Obama appointee. Here is the Complaint.

On April 22, the Fourth Circuit issued an order in Griffin v North Carolina State Board of Elections, 25-1397, the case over the disputed election of November 2024 for Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. By a vote of 2-1, the majority stayed the process of asking overseas voters from furnishing copies of their photo ID. The order is by Judge Paul V. Niemeyer, a Bush Sr. appointee, and is also signed by Judge Toby J. Heytens, a Biden appointee. Judge A. Marvin Quattlebaum, a Trump appointee, dissented, although he said he is expressing no opinion about the ultimate merits of the case.

On April 22, the U.S. Supreme Court ended the stay in Brown v Yost, 24A970. This is a win for the initiative process. The issue is whether Ohio violates the First Amendment by stifling initiatives before they can begin. Ohio says the petition can’t proceed until the Attorney General approves the description of the initiative that will be printed on the petition. The U.S. District Court had enjoined the system after the Ohio Attorney General rejected eight versions of the language, which wasted so much time, the initiative couldn’t be circulated.

Then the U.S.. District Court had stayed its own order. But recently, the Sixth Circuit voted 2-1 to dismiss the stay. But then on April 10 the U.S. Supreme Court had temporarily restored the stay. Now, today, the Court has ended the stay. The vote was 6-3. Justice Sam Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Brett Kavanaugh would have kept the stay in place.