Judge orders Trump administration to stop threatening election officials with criminal charges

A federal judge issued a sweeping order Friday night blocking the Trump administration from threatening or intimidating election officials amid pressure tactics used by the administration in the weeks leading up to next week’s midterm elections.

The eight-page order prohibits any action that may “threaten, intimidate or coerce state or local elections officials or workers to demand that they halt processing the ballots of any registered voter solely on the basis that the ballot belongs to an individual alleged by [the administration] to be ineligible to vote.”

U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson, who’s based in California, wrote, “In the lead-up to the election, high-ranking DOJ and DHS officials have engaged in a campaign to intimidate, threaten, and coerce state and local officials and employees who are engaged in administering the ongoing midterm 2026 election.”

The order comes in the wake of efforts to require states like California and Washington to separate out ballots the administration says could be cast by noncitizens. An appeals court ruled against the administration in California this week; the Washington case is pending.

“Although Defendants claim that their actions are designed to halt unlawful voting by noncitizens, their actions are likely to have the effect of interfering with election administration and disenfranchising lawful voters,” Thompson wrote Friday.

The judge’s order extends through Nov. 16, nearly two weeks after Election Day.