Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Legal Actions topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
State Solicitor General: Washington has successfully blocked key parts of presidential executive orders on elections
Summary
Solicitor General Noah Purcell and deputies told lawmakers the state has challenged two administration executive orders on elections and is defending against DOJ demands for unredacted voter rolls; courts have enjoined or dismissed multiple provisions but litigation is ongoing.
Solicitor General Noah Purcell and deputy solicitor generals Tara Hines and Carl Smith told the committee that Washington has mounted multiple legal challenges to presidential executive orders and to Department of Justice demands for voter data.
"Under the constitution, states set regulations for state and federal elections," Deputy Solicitor General Carl Smith said, explaining the office's position that the president lacks authority to unilaterally rework state election rules. He added that courts in Washington, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia have enjoined multiple provisions of a 2025 executive order and that litigation over other provisions is ongoing.
Smith outlined four categories in the 2025 order — documentary proof of citizenship for federal forms, changes to voting‑system certifications, election‑day receipt deadlines, and information‑sharing provisions — and said Washington's suits challenged those actions as beyond presidential authority. "Those claims were based on the absence of presidential authority," he told the committee.
Deputy Solicitor General Tara Hines described ongoing litigation over DOJ's request for unredacted voter registration files. "DOJ in this lawsuit is seeking the state's full unredacted voter registration list, which would include sensitive information about Washington's over 5,000,000 registered voters," Hines said, listing last four Social Security digits, full birth dates and driver's‑license numbers among the fields sought.
Hines told the committee that multiple federal courts have rejected DOJ's demands so far and that Washington has filed motions and expects further hearings. Committee members raised questions about whether attestation on state registration forms counts as proof of citizenship; Hines and her colleagues said state law treats attestation under penalty of perjury as sufficient for registration, while some proposed federal measures would require documentary proof.
The AG office said it is also tracking a related 2026 executive order that would direct DHS to assemble a state citizenship list and direct DOJ to prioritize investigations of election officials who distribute ballots to people not eligible to vote; those provisions are part of multiple lawsuits filed by states and other plaintiffs.
The committee did not vote on any measures; members requested follow‑up materials from the AG's office and NCSL.
