US judge blocks Trump administration from tying counterterrorism funds to election changes

A US judge blocked the Trump administration on Monday from conditioning counterterrorism funds to state and local ‌governments on changes to election administration.

The decision by Washington-based US District Judge Amir Ali marks the latest defeat for US President Donald Trump in his bid to increase the federal government’s authority over elections ahead of the November 3 midterms, when his Republicans are fighting to retain majorities in both houses of Congress.

Earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it would withhold 20 per cent of funding under ⁠grant programmes related to preparing for terrorist attacks and other threats until state or local governments adopted election administration measures favoured ‌by the administration.

In his ruling on Monday, Ali sided with counties and cities in Texas, Ohio and Tennessee, which sued to block the changes on the basis that ‌the conditioning of such funds exceeded the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s authority. A coalition of mostly Democratic-governed ⁠states filed a ⁠separate legal challenge to the policy, which remains pending.