Court blocks Trump bid to withhold some counterterrorism funds for states that don’t adopt election reforms

A federal court has blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to withhold some counterterrorism funding from states that do not adopt election reforms favored by the administration.

Earlier this year, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which administers the grants, said that states and localities will have to adopt five election policies — including the use of a controversial database to check the citizenship status of voters — or the administration would withhold 20 percent of the funds.

On Monday, Judge Amir Ali, an appointee of former President Biden, determined the move to withhold some of the money goes beyond FEMA’s statutory authority.

“The statute gives FEMA the authority to fund projects proposed by states and high-risk urban areas; it does not give FEMA authority to use the possibility of grants to induce states or high-risk urban areas to carry out the federal government’s preferred projects at their own expense,” Ali wrote.

The grant programs in question are known as the Urban Area Security Initiative and State Homeland Security Grant Program, the former of which helps cities in particular respond to terror threats. They were created after 9/11 to help prevent attacks.

“Election security is national security, and protecting critical infrastructure remains a top priority for the Trump Administration,” Victoria Barton, associate administrator at FEMA’s Office of External Affairs, said in a statement to The Hill. “FEMA is reviewing the court’s decision and will comply with the court’s order. The ruling does not affect FEMA’s broader mission to support state and local partners in preventing, preparing for, protecting against, and responding to terrorism, including through eligible physical and cybersecurity investments that protect election infrastructure.”

Earlier this year, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin defended the move as protecting election security and ensuring that Americans can trust the results of their elections.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are taking decisive action to protect election systems from threats like foreign interference, insider threats, and cyberattacks. These new requirements for homeland security grant recipients will preserve election integrity and ensure that Americans can trust the results,” Mullin said in July.

However, critics see the policy as a backdoor way to force states to check the citizenship status of voters, something Trump has also tried to do through executive action.

In particular, the policy would have forced states to use U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements to verify citizenship.

The database, which is traditionally used to verify whether someone is eligible for programs like food stamps and other entitlements, has been criticized for being out of date and otherwise containing faulty information.

Zach Schonfeld and Rebecca Beitsch contributed.