Democrats are saying all the right things about the latest attempt by Donald Trump to write and then pass his own federal law, this one banning mail-in voting, but seriously, this one doesn’t even need to go to court.
The Constitution is about as clear on this as it can possibly be.
See Article I, Section 4, Clause 1:
The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.
Interesting spelling of “choosing” there.
So, no, the president can’t just write and then pass his own new law, as Trump is trying to do, with an executive order that:
- directs the Department of Homeland Security, with the assistance of the Social Security Administration, to use federal databases to assemble a list of adult citizens that states can then compare to their voter rolls.
- instructs the Postal Service to transmit ballots only for states that have provided the federal government a list of its eligible mail voters 60 days before the election and that have met several requirements for making their mail ballots compatible with the USPS automated tracking service.
Last time anybody checked, Donald Trump is the president, not Congress, which has the power to “make or alter” the regulations in the first part of Clause 1; nor is Donald Trump, as the president, a “State” or “Legislature thereof,” who are the only entities empowered to prescribe the “Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives.”
Anybody who took a constitutional law class in college – raising my hand here – can tell you that we wouldn’t have had a Constitution if the proposal on the floor for the delegates in 1787 was to allow the executive to be able to rewrite the law prescribing the conduct of elections.
The Founders weren’t so sure about the concept of having an executive in the first place.
We weren’t that long from having fought a war to get out from under the yoke of a king, you may remember, from middle school civics class.
There is no federal government in 1787 if the states don’t agree to form one.
The rules for how this federal government would function are what we call the Constitution.
Dipshit in 2026 can’t just put his sharpie to paper and change it because he’s trying to prevent the landslide loss that is coming in the November midterms.
If he wants the Constitution to suit his whims, he’s going to need two-thirds of the House and Senate, and 38 states, to sign on.
Good luck with that, fat ass.
Add this to the list of impeachable offenses.
Responses from Virginia Dems:
- U.S. Sen. Mark Warner: “As I’ve long been warning, Trump is escalating his attempts to interfere in our elections — now with a totally illegal executive order. His efforts aren’t likely to stop here.”
- Congressman Don Beyer: “Trump is pulling out all the stops to make it more difficult for eligible Americans to vote because he knows he and his administration are unpopular. He’s terrified Americans will turn out in droves to reject him and his allies in Congress. His executive order attacking voting by mail will be defeated in court.”
- Attorney General Jay Jones: “Virginia will stand up to this. In court. The President’s latest executive order is a blatantly illegal and malicious attempt to block access to the ballot. His order restricting mail-in voting is riddled with legal fallacies and authoritarian directives – it will be challenged, and it will be defeated.”
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Chris Graham
