Former Federal Judge Slams Trump’s Attempt to Hijack Mail-In Voting as Unconstitutional and Disenfranchising

Donald Trump’s March 31, 2026 executive order to wrest control of mail-in voting from states and hand it over to the U.S. Postal Service and Department of Homeland Security is dead on arrival, says John E. Jones III, a former federal judge with nearly two decades on the bench.

Jones, who was nominated by George W. Bush and confirmed unanimously by the Senate, knows voter suppression when he sees it. In a high-profile 2020 case, he rejected baseless claims that thousands of dead people were voting in Pennsylvania, calling out the falsehoods that have become the Trump administration’s playbook.

The executive order rests on two demonstrably false premises, Jones explains. First, it falsely claims states fail to maintain accurate voter rolls. In reality, states take this responsibility seriously under the Constitution’s Article 1, Section 4, which explicitly empowers them to regulate elections. Second, it pushes the myth of rampant mail-in voting fraud—a claim with no evidence whatsoever.

Beyond the constitutional overreach, Jones highlights practical problems: neither the Postal Service nor Homeland Security is equipped to determine voter eligibility or manage election integrity. The order’s real effect would be to erect barriers to voting by mail, disenfranchising millions, including a growing number of Americans who prefer this method.

Legal challenges have already been filed by voting rights groups and 23 states, with federal courts in D.C. and Massachusetts poised to block the order. Secretaries of state have also resisted demands from the Department of Justice to hand over voter rolls, citing privacy and security concerns.

Jones warns that without lawsuits to stop this executive overreach, the administration could implement a “cumbersome and impossible initiative” that undermines democracy. This power grab is not just unconstitutional—it’s a direct attack on the right to vote.

In a democracy, the Constitution does not allow a president to unilaterally rewrite election rules based on falsehoods and paranoia. Trump’s executive order is a blunt instrument of voter suppression disguised as election integrity. The courts and the states are fighting back—and so must we.