Judge blocks Trump effort to pull election funding for states that don't adjust voting forms

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Politico

01/09/2026 09:04 PM ESTUpdated: 01/09/2026 11:38 PM EST


A federal judge has barred the Trump administration from threatening to withhold federal election funding for states that refuse to alter their voter registration forms or voting systems to President Donald Trump’s liking.

U.S. District Judge John Chun ruled Friday that Trump’s threat to pull Election Assistance Commission funds was an attempt to put unconstitutional pressure on states even though the president — by design — has no formal power to determine how states administer elections. “The President has no authority to unilaterally impose new conditions on federal funds,” Chun wrote in a 75-page ruling.

Chun, a Seattle-based Biden appointee, is the third federal judge to block large portions of Trump’s March 25 Executive Order purporting to require states to alter their election processes. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, a Washington, D.C.-based Obama appointee, in April blocked portions of the order forcing states to adopt new standards for voters’ proof of citizenship and a series of enforcement mechanisms. And U.S. District Judge Denise Casper, a Massachusetts-based Obama appointee, in June blocked provisions seeking to punish states that count ballots that arrive after Election Day.

The Trump administration has appealed Kollar-Kotelly’s and Casper’s rulings. Both appeals remain pending.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/09/election-trump-order-ruling-00721151

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Link to ORDER (PDF) - https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wawd.346612/gov.uscourts.wawd.346612.126.0_1.pdf

REFERENCES

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143425716
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143428990
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143430483
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143430599
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143430770
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143437692
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143469053
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143446934
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143446855
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143477706
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143488775
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143496539
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143497545
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143527151
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143557140
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143591402

[OldBaldy1701E]

1. But, will that stop him from doing it? (n/t)

[Fiendish Thingy]

2. He's already been stopped

Unless the appeal gets overturned by SCOTUS, which is unlikely.

With only a handful of exceptions, this administration has obeyed court orders restraining their lawless impunity,

Not sure why they do, but they do.

[OldBaldy1701E]

3. Taken from Google.

The Trump administration was accused of defying or frustrating court oversight in 57 cases, which represented approximately 35 percent of the judicial rulings made against it, according to a July 2025 analysis by The Washington Post. The analysis examined 165 cases in which federal judges had ruled against the administration.
The actual number of individual court orders that were ignored is difficult to pinpoint precisely due to how lawsuits and appeals are tracked, but legal experts described the rate of noncompliance as unprecedented.

I am afraid that is a bit more than a 'handful'. Plus, as shown, we can't really know just how many times they have done it because reasons.

[Fiendish Thingy]

4. What does "frustrating court oversight" mean

As we have seen and known for a long time, Trump is the master of courtroom manipulation, delay and stalling.

But delay, stalling and manipulation are not the same as open defiance of a specific order. AFAIK, there are only 2-3 instances of the Trump administration openly defying a judge’s order, the most famous of which was the deportee flight to El Salvador that refused to turn around when a judged ordered them to mid-flight.

Otherwise, the Trump administration always appeals rulings, and if they are successful in getting a stay pending appeal, continue to act with lawless impunity. But if they don’t get a stay, and the injunction remains in place pending the appeal, then they comply- most notably in the following instances :

No troops deployed to Chicago or Portland
Kilmer Garcia is free on US soil
Numerous Federal employees fired by DOGE had their jobs reinstated

These are the most well known, but there are numerous others, perhaps not captured accurately by your Google AI summary because they weren’t widely covered by the news media (not “sexy” enough), and so didn’t get “scraped” by the AI bot compiling the summary, although the bot acknowledged this in your bolded portion of your post.

In that gray area between defiance and compliance with a judge’s order are the myriad legal games Trump’s lawyers play in court, perhaps best exemplified by the cat and mouse contempt proceedings in Judge Boasberg’s court. Boasberg has not found Trump’s team in contempt yet, as they use procedural delays to stall their compliance with his orders.

Until/unless a stay is ordered pending appeal, it appears the administration is complying with the ruling reported in the OP, hence my post that he has already been stopped, at least for the moment.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. Since there are well over 1000 cases that have been filed

(and I saw one stat recently regarding tariffs where supposedly over 1000 business alone filed suit against that), "JustSecurity" has a tracker of 572 cases related to 45's crap here - https://www.justsecurity.org/107087/tracker-litigation-legal-challenges-trump-administration/

HOWEVER - a clearer picture of a status where he is determined to pursue all avenues, comes from the SCOTUS "shadow docket" stats, a tracker that can be found here - Supreme Court Shadow Docket Tracker — Challenges to Trump Administration Actions

Per the above link, as of Dec. 23, 2025 -

Since January 20, 2025, the Supreme Court has issued 25 decisions on the shadow docket concerning administration actions.

20 ruled for the administration at least partially

5 ruled against the administration

7 were not accompanied by any written explanation (most other rulings included only brief analysis, sometimes as short as a sentence

Two shadow docket applications are currently pending.

I expect a number of those were filed after violating lower court orders where he went running to "Daddy Roberts".

Not all of the cases were run up to the "shadow docket" though (which suggests backing off - at least temporarily).

The WORST of the unreported violations would be related to the immigration and deportation issue, where I expect there are tens of thousands of violations (if you count single individuals) and this is why a number of immigrant groups and the ACLU, etc., have/had filed to have those impacted, considered a "class" for a "class action" suit (which would drop the number of "individual" cases).

The SECOND WORST would probably be First Amendment violations (again with organizations later filing for and obtaining "class action" status for this - e.g., protestors involved in the Palestinian issue, the Charlie Kirk issue, the immigration issue, and now more recently the National Guard presence and ICE issues, as well as the book bans, DEI purges, etc.).

The THIRD WORST would probably deal with the recent "funding cuts" for illegal, bogus, and nonsensical reasons, where in a number of cases, the funding was eventually restored after lower court hand-slaps.

The FOURTH WORST might relate to all those DOGeshit cuts (including fed firings and then re-hirings and then re-firings, etc, as well as the removals of heads of independent agencies - with some left alone but others booted pending resolutions of lower court cases and/or the SCOTUS).

So in the scheme of all the cases (and potential cases) out there, and based on all the LBN OPs I have done on the "intransigent" cases that "made the news" (like the Abrego Garcia case and more recently, the targeting of Comey and James), where judges have been threatening sanctions, there are so far only a "handful" of continued violations in the scheme of the thousands of cases (so far). In most cases, they backed down (like finally removing out-of-state NG from California and Oregon, etc).

[OldBaldy1701E]

7. I see.

I guess all of the injustice being continually perpetrated by this regime is 'legal', then.

Funny how that 'legal' stuff works, isn't it?

[BumRushDaShow]

8. When "Daddy Roberts" rules that it is.

It's how far we continue to fall.

[OldBaldy1701E]

9. Yeah, but it is a fall that could have been avoided.

But, we expect The Avengers to arrive and smash the bad guy rather than see what is going on around us with the understanding that they are attacking us to destroy us.

The only defense is us doing the same. Not some hypothetical army, not some super hero. US.

We won't do that.

So, we fall. And, fall. And, fall.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

The fact that this has not happened shows that we prefer things as they are. The fact that this corruption and degradation of our government is not a new thing, just the latest thing, shows that we don't want to change anything. We prefer the bias and the worship of greed.

It disgusts me, to be honest. Recently I have been wondering just how many German citizens were doing the same thing as their country was overrun with extremism. Just sat and expected some mystical group to rise from nowhere and save them. Or using the corrupted and rigged governmental system to try and stop the corrupted and rigged governmental system.

It did not happen then, and it is not going to happen now.

Call me whatever you wish. If I am wrong, I am wrong and will say so. As far as I am concerned, there is only one way to save us. I just hope enough of us realize it before everything is ruined in the name of a little green piece of paper and the whim of Nosferatu McGobbels, thru that spoiled little nepo-baby.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. "Yeah, but it is a fall that could have been avoided."

But, we expect The Avengers to arrive and smash the bad guy rather than see what is going on around us with the understanding that they are attacking us to destroy us.

The only defense is us doing the same. Not some hypothetical army, not some super hero. US.

We won't do that.

So, we fall. And, fall. And, fall.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

They basically thew out that preamble to the Declaration of Independence and replaced it with a shorter and more lofty wish list in the preamble of the Constitution -

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

What was interesting was the first draft of that preamble -

We the People of the States of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode-Island and Providence
Plantations, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia,
North-Carolina, South-Carolina, and Georgia, do ordain, declare and establish the following
Constitution for the Government of Ourselves and our Posterity.

The fact that this has not happened shows that we prefer things as they are. The fact that this corruption and degradation of our government is not a new thing, just the latest thing, shows that we don't want to change anything. We prefer the bias and the worship of greed.

It disgusts me, to be honest. Recently I have been wondering just how many German citizens were doing the same thing as their country was overrun with extremism. Just sat and expected some mystical group to rise from nowhere and save them. Or using the corrupted and rigged governmental system to try and stop the corrupted and rigged governmental system.

It did not happen then, and it is not going to happen now.

The largest European-descended ethnic group in the U.S. was, until recently - German, although with the 2020 Census changes and the ability to do a "write-in" with details, self-reports of "English" recently overtook them (with Irish in 3rd place) - Over Half of White Population Reported Being English, German or Irish

Call me whatever you wish. If I am wrong, I am wrong and will say so. As far as I am concerned, there is only one way to save us. I just hope enough of us realize it before everything is ruined in the name of a little green piece of paper and the whim of Nosferatu McGobbels, thru that spoiled little nepo-baby.

There are generational issues that have been passed on to descendants of those whose ancestors came here escaping the oppressive societies that they fled, and that resulted in a primordial desire to be the "oppressor" (and reap the benefits that were taken from their ancestors).

[OldBaldy1701E]

11. Well...

They basically thew out that preamble to the Declaration of Independence and replaced it with a shorter and more lofty wish list in the preamble of the Constitution -

I don't recall hearing about anything being 'thrown out'. The Declaration had one purpose, and the Constitution had another. The wording had to be different for each document and its purpose. My reference was to The Declaration and its purpose as stated. As a gathering of like minded individuals, we agree that, should a governmental entity become oppressive or at odds with its citizens, the citizens reserve the right to change or abolish it. That still stands, and bears repeating in my opinion.

We the People of the States of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode-Island and Providence
Plantations, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia,
North-Carolina, South-Carolina, and Georgia, do ordain, declare and establish the following
Constitution for the Government of Ourselves and our Posterity.

The 'known world' at the time. There were true visionaries in attendance, but I doubt their numbers were in the majority.

The largest European-descended ethnic group in the U.S. was, until recently - German, although with the 2020 Census changes and the ability to do a "write-in" with details, self-reports of "English" recently overtook them (with Irish in 3rd place) - Over Half of White Population Reported Being English, German or Irish

I am not sure what your point is here. Please elucidate.

There are generational issues that have been passed on to descendants of those whose ancestors came here escaping the oppressive societies that they fled, and that resulted in a primordial desire to be the "oppressor" (and reap the benefits that were taken from their ancestors).

That is interesting, as I feel that those who escaped such oppression would be loathe to practice what ruined their lives. In my opinion, what we have here is the new royalty and their desire to remain that way. IN the past, they have gotten away with literal murder and other atrocities because they are the anointed and they made sure to influence us to believe that as well. The crumbling of the house of cards they built had to happen, and it presents a wonderful opportunity to correct some of the mistakes we made in the past regarding our allowance of the ability of money, and those who have it, to influence... well, anything. There will have to be stringent regulations to make sure that will never happen again.

But, that won't happen, because there are too many fingers in the pot from too many different sources. They know what it would mean for their socio-political-economic positioning. They would no longer be the 'elite'. Therefore, not only will they be against this ideal, they will actively fight it. ALL of them.

So, yes, it could have been avoided if we had stopped kissing the green god's ass, if we had just put the orange gibbon in a cell along with his posse, but we are too programmed to favor the rich, and we are too programmed to vote against what started this in the first place.

Which is why I am rather pessimistic and negative these days. We learned, and are learning, nothing. We are just hoping that this storm doesn't affect us, and once it is gone everything will be butterflies and rainbows.

Wrong.

I am reminded of a great passage from the collection called 'Different Seasons' by Stephen King. The story titled: 'Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption'.

"There are really only two types of men in the world when it comes to bad trouble," Andy said, cupping a match between his hands and lighting a cigarette. "Suppose there was a house full of rare paintings and sculptures and fine old antiques, Red? And suppose the guy who owned the house heard that there was a monster of a hurricane headed right at it. One of those two kinds of men just hopes for the best. The hurricane will change course, he says to himself. No right-thinking hurricane would ever dare wipe out all these Rembrandts, my two Degas horses, my Jackons Pollocks and my Paul Klees. Furthermore, God wouldn't allow it. And if worst comes to worst, they're insured. That's one sort of man. The other sort just assumes that hurricane is going to tear right through the middle of his house. If the weather bureau says the hurricane just changed course, this guy assumes it'll change back in order to put his house on ground zero again. This second type of guy knows there's no harm in hoping for the best as long as you're prepared for the worst."

We need more of the second guy. (Which, if you had ever lived through a hurricane, you'd understand why the second guy is the smart one.) Although, that may be too little too late now.

[BumRushDaShow]

12. "I don't recall hearing about anything being 'thrown out'."

The Declaration had one purpose, and the Constitution had another. The wording had to be different for each document and its purpose. My reference was to The Declaration and its purpose as stated. As a gathering of like minded individuals, we agree that, should a governmental entity become oppressive or at odds with its citizens, the citizens reserve the right to change or abolish it. That still stands, and bears repeating in my opinion.

The belief that you emphasized in the Declaration about basically holding a government to account, pretty much evaporated when THEY became "the government". I.e., this part that you quoted -

--That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government,

The resultant Civil War is a testament to that.

The largest European-descended ethnic group in the U.S. was, until recently - German, although with the 2020 Census changes and the ability to do a "write-in" with details, self-reports of "English" recently overtook them (with Irish in 3rd place) - Over Half of White Population Reported Being English, German or Irish

I am not sure what your point is here. Please elucidate.

You wrote this -

It disgusts me, to be honest. Recently I have been wondering just how many German citizens were doing the same thing as their country was overrun with extremism. Just sat and expected some mystical group to rise from nowhere and save them. Or using the corrupted and rigged governmental system to try and stop the corrupted and rigged governmental system.

And I am pointing out who left there (which included 45's grandfather before WW2), and eventually came here. And I coupled that later with this -

There are generational issues that have been passed on to descendants of those whose ancestors came here escaping the oppressive societies that they fled, and that resulted in a primordial desire to be the "oppressor" (and reap the benefits that were taken from their ancestors).

You see this same phenomena with many of the Cuban immigrants who left Cuba when Castro came into power. The number one offender at the moment is "Little Marco".

And as to this -

I am reminded of a great passage from the collection called 'Different Seasons' by Stephen King. The story titled: 'Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption'.

"There are really only two types of men in the world when it comes to bad trouble," Andy said, cupping a match between his hands and lighting a cigarette. "Suppose there was a house full of rare paintings and sculptures and fine old antiques, Red? And suppose the guy who owned the house heard that there was a monster of a hurricane headed right at it. One of those two kinds of men just hopes for the best. The hurricane will change course, he says to himself. No right-thinking hurricane would ever dare wipe out all these Rembrandts, my two Degas horses, my Jackons Pollocks and my Paul Klees. Furthermore, God wouldn't allow it. And if worst comes to worst, they're insured. That's one sort of man. The other sort just assumes that hurricane is going to tear right through the middle of his house. If the weather bureau says the hurricane just changed course, this guy assumes it'll change back in order to put his house on ground zero again. This second type of guy knows there's no harm in hoping for the best as long as you're prepared for the worst."



We need more of the second guy. (Which, if you had ever lived through a hurricane, you'd understand why the second guy is the smart one.) Although, that may be too little too late now.

I haven't read any recent Steven King in a LONG time. And agree with your analogy and yes, I have been through lots of remnants of hurricanes and did in fact have one blow right overhead back in 1989 when my family was vacationing in Acapulco. It was a Cat 1 - Cosme. Literally flooded out the people on the other side of the "famous" ridge that surrounds the Bay, our hotel lost power but we were fine (that hotel was really anchored into the rocky outcroppings along the Bay's beach). It came through at night with a lot of rain and then it got quiet. I woke up when the winds and rain stopped, stepped out on the balcony, looked up, and saw the stars (meaning the eye was overhead). Probably an hour later, all hell broke loose! As a 55 year weather hobbyist, I track them on the side.

Unfortunately, Acapulco got hit with a Cat 5 - Hurricane Otis in 2023, that tore up many of the hotels, and most of the piers and homes all around the city.

[OldBaldy1701E]

13. True.

The belief that you emphasized in the Declaration about basically holding a government to account, pretty much evaporated when THEY became "the government". I.e., this part that you quoted -

That, I do not deny. I am just saying that we did away with one government to form another. We can do it again. Unless the consensus is that our current social-econimic situation is preferable. Is it?

And I am pointing out who left there (which included 45's grandfather before WW2), and eventually came here. And I coupled that later with this -

Yes, but what I was asking was how many of the people who remained were so passive as to allow their entire society to be destroyed and decided that the best thing to do is to just watch it happen. How many tried to justify it even as the goons were kicking in their own door? That was what I was pondering. Just how much what happened during WWII could have been stopped if the locals had just felt more motivated to do something as opposed to just sitting there? And, why did that happen? Were they bought off? Were they being so oppressed that they felt there was nothing to be done? Just what led to a country becoming the mot evil place on the planet (for a time)? And, why did we not learn from it? (Don't answer that one, I already know why.)

Unfortunately, Acapulco got hit with a Cat 5 - Hurricane Otis in 2023, that tore up many of the hotels, and most of the piers and homes all around the city.

Yes. I remember reading about that. Growing up on and by the Outer Banks (Kitty Hawk/Kill Devil Hill/ Nags Head) we had them every year. Most were either just passing by (Hurricane Party! Yeah!), or were skirting the northern part of the Banks. But, when one would come in... well, that was entertaining to say the least. I remember being sent home from school early on a few occasions because they were afraid that the thing would strengthen and make it impossible for the students to get home.

And since we are on this topic, and since you are posting 'Hamiton!' here, I will remind everyone that it takes a massive mess of chaos to form a hurricane. They speak of 'organized weather patterns', but it is nothing more than the weather saying, "Fuck it!"

If we want to save ourselves, we need to be the hurricane, and not the beachgoers gathering up their things and running for their lives. But, we have to understand that at this point, there is no way we can do it without getting wet.

[BumRushDaShow]

14. Regarding this -

Yes, but what I was asking was how many of the people who remained were so passive as to allow their entire society to be destroyed and decided that the best thing to do is to just watch it happen. How many tried to justify it even as the goons were kicking in their own door? That was what I was pondering. Just how much what happened during WWII could have been stopped if the locals had just felt more motivated to do something as opposed to just sitting there? And, why did that happen? Were they bought off? Were they being so oppressed that they felt there was nothing to be done? Just what led to a country becoming the mot evil place on the planet (for a time)? And, why did we not learn from it? (Don't answer that one, I already know why.)

The vast majority of humanity are not "activists". When it comes to situations like this, they become extremely risk-averse and try to "fly under the radar" for as long as they can. There is that quote often posted here, from Martin Niemöller, that said -

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Societies that go through this type of thing, do eventually have an upheaval, but the time interval for when that finally happens, can vary, all while the carnage continues in the interim.

And regarding those Outerbanks hurricanes - which were almost "common" for awhile, although I think climate change has changed the paths of those, we would get the remnants of those as they crawled up the coast and hopped the jetstream headed to the northeast (and eventually to the UK).

That song "Hurricane" from Hamilton was the prelude to the public revelation and humiliation heaped on him regarding his dalliances with the wife of a huckster "James Reynolds" (which happened right here in Philly right near where I used to work...lol). Reynolds extorted Hamilton to "keep it quiet", but the scheme was discovered and used as fodder by Madison, Jefferson, and Burr to knock Hamilton down a few notches. Hamilton then wrote up and distributed a "pamphlet" explaining the whole thing to exonerate himself - "The Reynolds Pamphlet" -



He kept a ledger record of every payment he made, for what, and why, to establish it wasn't coming from government funds.

[turbinetree]

6. And in the background is John Roberts fomenting from the mouth to completely eviscerate the Voting Right Act of 1965....