Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined a coalition of 23 attorneys general along with the Governor of Pennsylvania in filing a motion for summary judgment challenging President Trump's executive order restricting mail voting.
The coalition filed the motion with the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, seeking a permanent block on enforcement of Executive Order No. 14399, entitled Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections. Attorney General Nessel argued the order unlawfully attempts to interfere with states' constitutional authority to administer elections.
"The Constitution is clear: states run elections, not the White House," Attorney General Nessel said. "While President Trump has tried to unilaterally usurp powers he simply does not legally possess, this coalition has intervened to ensure the administration follows the rule of law."
The motion for summary judgment asks the court to rule the executive order unconstitutional without a trial on the grounds that the law is clear. The Trump administration must file its response by Thursday, May 7, 2026. A hearing on the motions is scheduled for Tuesday, June 2, 2026 at 10 AM ET.
Attorney General Nessel co-led the filing alongside Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, and Washington Attorney General Nick Brown. The coalition includes attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
The coalition's motion argues the executive order's attempt to dictate federal voter eligibility lists for each state unconstitutionally invades states' power over their voter rolls. It also argues the order's attempt to charge states and the USPS with compiling mail voter eligibility lists, and its prohibition on USPS transmitting mail ballots from voters not on those lists, are unconstitutional and run headlong into states' and Congress's authority to regulate elections and Congress's power to regulate USPS.
The coalition contends the order threatens serious injury to the states, including harms to sovereign powers to administer elections, fiscal injuries from states being forced to administer elections under federal procedures, legal jeopardy to states and their elections officials, and harms to states' reputations and public trust.
Earlier this month, Attorney General Nessel joined the same coalition in bringing a lawsuit against the administration, arguing the executive order is unconstitutional and beyond the authority of the President and other federal officials.