A federal judge on Friday blocked President Donald Trump's March executive order requiring voter registration forms to include proof of citizenship.

US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of Washington, DC, permanently barred the US Election Assistance Commission (EAC) from implementing the provision of President Donald Trump's executive order requiring proof of citizenship on the federal voter registration form.

The ruling is a victory for Democratic and civil rights groups that sued the Trump administration over its executive order to reform US elections, with a measure that would restrict the right to vote for thousands of Americans who cannot provide proof of citizenship, even if they were born in the country.

A coalition of voting rights groups and Democratic leaders immediately filed lawsuits against the Trump administration, obtaining an injunction in April.

The court then ruled that Trump had overstepped his executive powers in an area the Constitution reserves for the states and Congress.

The judge ruled on Friday that the citizenship proof order constitutes an unconstitutional violation of the separation of powers, a major blow to the administration and its allies, who have argued that the mandate is necessary to restore public confidence that only Americans vote in US elections. United States.

“Since our Constitution assigns responsibility for election regulation to the States and Congress, this Court holds that the President lacks the authority to order such changes,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote in her opinion.

She further emphasized that in matters related to establishing voting requirements and regulating federal election procedures, “the Constitution does not assign any direct role to the President in either of these areas.” Kollar-Kotelly, appointed by Ronald Reagan and promoted by Bill Clinton to the federal district court in Washington, DC, wrote an 81-page opinion explaining in detail why Trump's executive order violated the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution."The distribution of authority over federal elections between Congress and the States, established in the Constitution, may not be intuitive. But it is not accidental," Kollar-Kotelly wrote. “This design, on the other hand, was the result of carefully considered compromises among the framers of our Constitution.” The order specifically prevents the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) from implementing Section 2(a) of Trump's order, which would also have directed state and local election officials to verify the identity of registered voters. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer celebrated the court ruling in a statement: “The DC District Court's ruling is a major victory for our democracy. Democrats took Trump to court to protect the fundamental right to vote, and we won.” "This ruling makes it clear that the Trump administration's executive order to disenfranchise voters by limiting access to polling places is unconstitutional. Democrats will continue to fight to ensure that the ability to choose our elected representatives remains in the hands of the people and that elected representatives cannot choose their voters," he concluded. Schumer.

The joint lawsuit filed the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Governors Association, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.), House Minority Leader Hakeem S. Jeffries (DN.Y.), the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the Safe Families Initiative, and the Arizona Student Association Against Trump, the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), and the Department of Justice. The Republican National Committee also intervened in the lawsuit to defend Trump's executive order.

The lawsuit will proceed so the judge can consider other challenges to Trump's order.

This includes the requirement that all mail-in ballots be received, and not just postmarked, before Election Day.

With information from Democracy Docket, USA Today, and The Associated Press