Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes have aligned with a coalition of 19 states to file a lawsuit challenging President Donald J. Trump, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, and other Trump Administration officials. The lawsuit addresses an executive order by President Trump, known as Executive Order No. 14248, that purportedly seeks to enforce widespread voting restrictions across the country.
The coalition argues that the executive order unfairly seeks to involve state election officials in altering established state election procedures, thereby infringing on the rights reserved to the states and Congress under the U.S. Constitution. "This EO is an unacceptable and unconstitutional intrusion on the rights of states and the power of Congress by an out-of-control executive branch hellbent on destroying 250 years of precedent," Attorney General Mayes stated, emphasizing a discord between state and federal authority.
Furthermore, Secretary of State Fontes remarked, "If President Trump wanted to make laws then he should have run for congress where the U.S. Constitution says that work is done," and stressed the importance of state control in electoral matters: "The Constitution also says elections belong to the states."
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, the lawsuit demands that the court block the challenged provisions of the executive order and render them null and void. It contends that the order attempts to commandeer state agencies, alter ballot counting laws, impose requirements on military and overseas voters, and threaten to withhold federal funding from non-compliant states.
The lawsuit, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, reflects widespread opposition from various states, involving the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin alongside Arizona.
The coalition supports that the executive order stands in violation of constitutional principles, namely federalism and the separation of powers, underscoring the necessity for judicial intervention.