Federal judge vacates Trump-era rule linking counterterrorism funds to election changes

A federal judge on Monday vacated a Trump administration rule that would hold back a portion of counterterrorism funds to states unless states and certain municipalities made certain changes to how they administer elections.

In his ruling, Judge Amir Ali said the Federal Emergency Management Agency exceeded its legal authority "by conditioning the counterterrorism grant funds on changes to routine election administration."

Ali also said FEMA, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, had not shown how the desired changes to election administration related to stopping terrorism.

Ali's decision in U.S. District Court in Washington came in response to a lawsuit challenging FEMA's new rule filed in August by two Texas counties, one in Tennessee, and the city of Columbus, Ohio.

The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, which represents some of the plaintiffs in the suit against FEMA and DHS, said on Aug. 17 that FEMA's conditions "violate the Constitution, jeopardize public safety, and put election security at risk."

"Over the last two years, courts have largely blocked the administration's repeated attempts to seize congressional and state authority over elections," the Brennan Center said at the time.

"Now, DHS is holding public safety funding hostage in order to coerce states and local governments into adopting some of the very policies that the administration has tried and failed to impose."

The Brennan Center said the funds that stood to be withheld if FEMA's conditions were allowed to remain in place totaled tens of millions of dollars.

A spokesman for the Department of Justice, which represented DHS and FEMA, declined to comment on Ali's ruling. CNBC has requested comment from the Brennan Center.

FEMA issued the rule in June requiring states "and their respective high-risk urban areas" to make certain changes to election administration or face the withholding of 20% of a state's allocation of counterterrorism funds from the federal government, Ali noted.

Urban areas in the U.S. vote overwhelmingly for Democrats.