A judge on Monday vacated a Trump administration rule that would withhold 20% of federal counterterrorism funds allocated for states unless they made certain changes to election administration. U.S. District Court Judge Amir Ali stated that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) exceeded its legal authority by conditioning the grant funds on changes to routine election administration. Ali noted that FEMA had not demonstrated how the proposed changes related to countering terrorism.
The ruling, issued in Washington, D.C., responded to a lawsuit filed in August by counties in Texas and Tennessee, along with the city of Columbus, Ohio, challenging FEMA's new rule. The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, which represents some plaintiffs in the case, argued that FEMA's conditions violated the Constitution and jeopardized public safety.
The Brennan Center stated that the funds potentially at risk totaled tens of millions of dollars. A spokesman for the Department of Justice, which represented DHS and FEMA, declined to comment on the ruling.
Abbie Kamin, the County Attorney of Harris County, Texas, described the ruling as a victory against federal overreach that threatened public safety. She emphasized that states and localities control elections, and the ruling reaffirmed that principle.
FEMA's rule, issued in June, required states and high-risk urban areas to implement specific changes to election administration or risk losing a portion of their counterterrorism funding. The mandated changes included transitioning from electronic voting systems to hand-marked paper ballots, conducting post-election audits of 5% of ballots, and verifying the U.S. citizenship of voters and election officials.
Judge Ali remarked that FEMA's conditions imposed costs on states and localities without federal funding and addressed routine election administration rather than the types of threats contemplated by the statute. He pointed out that the agency failed to explain how the citizenship verification procedures were connected to enhancing security against terrorist attacks.