Constitutional Opinion No. 2026-0640
Case Information
- Source
- USA TODAY
- Author
- Bart Jansen
- Publication Date
- 2026-07-18
- Content Type
- News Article
- Opinion Issued
- 2026-07-18
- AFCS Version
- 1.0
Holding
This USA TODAY article reports the DOJ losing all sixteen federal court decisions in its effort to compel states to surrender voter data to check for noncitizens, with courts ruling unanimously — including seven Trump-appointed judges — that states, not the federal government, run elections. The case engages the framework from two directions: the GOAL (preventing noncitizen voting) aligns with citizen-only elections (Articles VI, II), but the METHOD (federal seizure of state election authority, a mass-data demand officials call a sweeping surveillance tool, and prison threats against officials) runs against federalism (XII), the constitutional order that elections belong to the states (XVII), and citizen privacy (II). Reporting a constitutional outcome the Standard largely endorses, with exceptional sourcing and balance, it earns Mostly America First. America First is not a synonym for whatever an administration seeks; a report documenting the defeat of a federal overreach into state elections scores well because the order it describes is the order the AF Constitution protects.
It is the judgment of this Court that Opinion No. 2026-0640 is hereby entered into the record, in accordance with the America First Constitutional Standard. The score stands. The reasoning is published. The record is public.