Attorney General Tong Files Motion for Preliminary Injunction to Halt Implementation of President Trump's Unlawful Elections Executive Order

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05/06/2025

Attorney General Tong Files Motion for Preliminary Injunction to Halt Implementation of President Trump's Unlawful Elections Executive Order

(Hartford, CT) — Attorney General William Tong joined a coalition of 19 attorneys general in filing a motion for a preliminary injunction to block the Trump Administration from implementing Executive Order No. 14248 (Executive Order), an unconstitutional, antidemocratic, and un-American attempt to impose sweeping voting restrictions across the country. Among other things, the Executive Order attempts to conscript state election officials in the President’s campaign to impose documentary proof of citizenship requirements for voter registration, and withholds various streams of federal funding to the States if they fail to comply. he Executive Order also diverts essential election resources from Connecticut’s preparation for the 2025 municipal and special elections and the planning for the 2026 state and federal elections.

On April 3, the attorneys general filed a lawsuit challenging the Executive Order. The lawsuit underscores that the power to regulate elections rests exclusively with the States and Congress — not the President. Since then, the Trump Administration has begun taking steps to implement the Executive Order. In their motion for a preliminary injunction, the attorneys general argue that they are likely to win on the merits of their lawsuit, that their States have unique and profound interests at stake in the litigation, and that their States will suffer irreparable harms without court-ordered relief.

“The Constitution forbids the President from commandeering state election officials to manipulate and micromanage how we vote. We sued to stop the order and to protect our right to cast our ballots in free and fair elections, and now we are asking the court to immediately block Trump from implementing this lawless attack on our democracy,” said Attorney General Tong.

“As I’ve said before, this executive order is bad for Connecticut voters, bad for Connecticut taxpayers, and bad for Connecticut overall,” said Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas. “It goes against states’ rights to run their own elections, creates added and unnecessary steps for election workers without the needed training or funding, and will make voting and voter registration less safe and accessible here. We need the courts to step in to protect Connecticut’s rights and values.”

In their motion for a preliminary injunction, the attorneys general explain that the Executive Order acutely injures their States’ compelling interest in the integrity of their election processes. For instance, the documentary proof of citizenship requirements have necessitated an immediate response from state and local elections officials, who must consider how to carry out their voter registration duties subject to the new requirements by meeting with their staff, speaking with local elections officials, and beginning to plan for a near future with the requirements in place — or risk the loss of federal funding.

The Executive Order threatens millions of dollars in federal funding to protect Connecticut elections from malicious actors, to improve election administration, and to expand voting. From 2018-2022, Connecticut received $11,876,298 in federal election security funds. From May 31, 2023 to September 30, 2027, Connecticut anticipates receiving $2 million in election security funding, as well as additional election security funding provided through federal grants to the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, and funding to support college students working polls on Election Day. Connecticut recently spent $20 million to replace twenty-year old voting tabulators in all 169 towns. It is unclear whether those tabulators would comply with the new Trump orders, which impose vague requirements for a “voter-verifiable paper record.”

In filing the motion for a preliminary injunction, Attorney General Tong joins the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

A copy of the motion can be found here.

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