Judge imposes sweeping emergency order halting DOJ pressure campaign on election officials

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A federal judge imposed a sweeping emergency order halting various aggressive tactics employed by the Trump administration in recent days to pressure election officials across the country.

“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,” US District Judge Trina Thompson said in her opinion granting a temporary restraining order Friday evening.

She said, while her order is in place, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security cannot demand that election officials in any state segregate ballots, purge voters from voter rolls, or halt ballot processing. Thompson, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, is also blocking threats of criminal prosecutions against election officials from those agencies and said that the administration cannot take other actions that “threaten, intimidate or coerce” election officials to demand changes in ballot processing procedures on claims the voters are ineligible.

Thompson’s opinion rebuked claims the administration has made for months that it can and will prosecute election officials for not doing enough to prevent illegal voting.

“When state and local government employees perform the work of distributing, processing, or counting ballots or otherwise administering the 2026 midterm election” in accordance with the law, “they do not violate federal criminal law even if a particular ballot belongs to a registered voter alleged by Defendants to be ineligible to vote,” she wrote.

She is also requiring the administration inform her of any “search warrant applications, grand jury subpoenas, or other demands to access election materials or ballots” that have been issued related to lists the administration has created to allege individuals are ineligible to vote.

The judge set her order to expire November 16. CNN has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.

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一名联邦法官发布了一项范围广泛的紧急命令，叫停了特朗普政府近日来为向全国各地的选举官员施压而采取的各种激进策略。

“虽然被告声称他们的行为旨在阻止非公民非法投票，但他们的行为很可能干扰选举管理，剥夺合法选民的选举权，”美国地区法官特里娜·汤普森在周五晚间发布的临时限制令意见书中表示。

她表示，在她颁布的命令生效期间，司法部和国土安全部不得要求任何州的选举官员隔离选票、从选民名册中删除选民或停止计票。汤普森由乔·拜登总统任命，她还阻止了这些机构对选举官员提起刑事诉讼的威胁，并表示，政府不得采取其他任何“威胁、恐吓或胁迫”选举官员以选民不符合资格为由要求更改计票程序的行动。

汤普森的意见驳斥了政府几个月来一直声称可以而且将会起诉那些未能尽力防止非法投票的选举官员的说法。

她写道：“当州和地方政府雇员依法履行分发、处理或统计选票或以其他方式管理 2026 年中期选举的工作时，即使某张选票属于被告声称没有投票资格的已登记选民，他们也不违反联邦刑法。”

她还要求政府告知她任何与政府创建的、声称某些人没有投票资格的名单有关的“搜查令申请、大陪审团传票或其他获取选举材料或选票的要求”。

法官将禁令的有效期设定为11月16日。CNN已联系司法部寻求置评。