In brief

• A US federal judge ordered the Justice Department to stop threatening state and local election officials with criminal prosecution over alleged non-citizen voting.
• The order also covers the Department of Homeland Security and bars pressuring officials to separate or remove votes and to remove voters.
• The judge temporarily barred the conduct after an initial finding that it likely violated federal voting rights law.
• The ruling comes weeks before the US midterm elections.

Court order targets prosecution threats

A federal judge ruled that the Justice Department must stop warning state and local election officials that they could face criminal prosecution if they do not comply with demands from the administration of Republican President Donald Trump. The demands concern alleged voting by people who are not US citizens (Súd zakázal Trumpovej administratíve vyhrážať sa volebným úradníkom – Pravda.sk) (Americká vláda překročila pravomoci, rozhodl soud. Zakázal jí vyhrožovat volebním úředníkům – iROZHLAS).

The ruling was reported on 31 October. According to NBC News, the judge's order covers state and local officials who refuse to accede to the administration's requests. Czech and Slovak outlets carried the same core account of the decision, describing it as a limit on the government's powers (Soudkyně se postavila Trumpovi. Zakázala mu vyhrožovat volebním úředníkům – iDNES.cz) (Soudkyně zakázala Trumpově vládě vyhrožovat volebním úředníkům – ČT24).

Scope of the decision

The order is directed at the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security. It also bars pressuring officials to separate or remove votes and to remove voters.

According to the reports, it does not address the underlying claims about non-citizen voting, which the administration has raised as grounds for its requests.

The case draws the courts into disputes over how federal authority interacts with the state-run election system, where vote counting and voter-roll management are typically handled by state and county officials. The judge temporarily barred the administration's conduct after an initial finding that it likely violated federal voting rights law.

Context

The decision comes weeks before the US midterm elections, when tensions over voter eligibility and election administration are high. Coverage from several outlets framed the ruling as a direct check on the executive branch's conduct toward election workers (Soud zakázal Trumpově administrativě vyhrožovat volebním úředníkům – Seznam Zprávy).