Four states in our region, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico, have joined a motion for a preliminary injunction to prevent the Trump administration from altering election rules. It’s the latest in a series of legal actions taken by Democratic attorneys general.
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford has joined a coalition of his peers, filing many legal actions since the new president took office. During a recent speech in Las Vegas, Ford said everyone has to obey the law, including the president. Ford said he intends to ensure that unlawful actions cannot and do not go forward
“I am also an unabashed advocate for standing up for what’s right,” Ford said. “And the rule of law is the guidepost for us.”
Ford and his colleagues have challenged several of Trump’s executive orders, including one that aims to change election rules. With 17 other states, including Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico, Ford said the order would undermine state control of elections and impose unfair burdens on voters, like proving citizenship.
According to the news release from Ford’s office, the executive order “attempts to conscript state election officials in the president’s campaign to impose documentary proof of citizenship requirements for voter registration; forces states to ignore mail ballots that are cast by Election Day but received by election officials just days afterward; and withhold various streams of federal funding to the States if they fail to comply.”
Ford said the president can absolutely do some of the things he’s proposing, but he must do so lawfully.
“To the victor goes the spoils to implement his policies but he must do so lawfully,” Ford said. “If he does not, we’ll meet him in court.”
Ford said he and the other attorneys general are prepared to file civil and criminal contempt charges and take their legal battle as far as they can to uphold “the rule of law.”
It’s up to a judge to rule on the injunction on Trump’s executive order on elections. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has begun taking steps to implement that order.
Ford and his colleagues have also challenged the cutting of budgets for health and education programs.
“The president can’t destroy an agency that’s created by Congress and tasked by Congress to do certain things,” he said. “He can’t do that. The executive branch simply does not have the power to tear apart agencies that it doesn’t like.”
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio (KNPR) in Las Vegas, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
