Judge Blocks Trump Election Conditions on Counterterrorism Grants

A U.S. federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration from tying counterterrorism funding for state and local governments to changes in election administration, rejecting an effort to use federal security grants to advance election-related requirements.

U.S. District Judge Amir Ali in Washington ruled that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) lacked congressional authority to impose the conditions. The decision came after local governments in Texas, Ohio and Tennessee challenged the policy, arguing that FEMA had exceeded its legal powers.

Earlier in 2026, the Department of Homeland Security announced that 20% of certain counterterrorism grants would be withheld until state or local governments adopted election administration measures sought by the Trump administration. The affected programs provide more than $1 billion to help governments prepare for terrorist attacks and other security threats.

Among the election-related requirements were measures involving voter citizenship verification, voting equipment and ballot audits. Judge Ali concluded that federal agencies had not been authorized by Congress to attach those conditions to the security grants and that the requirements did not have a sufficient connection to the programs' counterterrorism purpose.

The plaintiffs included Columbus, Ohio; Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee; and El Paso and Harris counties in Texas. They argued that withholding public safety funding to secure election policy changes went beyond FEMA's statutory authority.

The ruling comes ahead of the November 3 U.S. midterm elections and amid broader legal disputes over the federal government's role in election administration, which is largely managed by states and local jurisdictions.

The decision prevents the administration from enforcing the challenged election conditions through these counterterrorism grants. The Department of Homeland Security and FEMA did not immediately comment on the ruling or indicate whether the administration would appeal.