Constitution clear that Trump can't nationalize elections

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

By Noah Feldman / Bloomberg Opinion

The Trump administration is reportedly preparing an executive order to attempt to nationalize aspects of the midterm elections, despite a clear constitutional provision that assigns congressional elections to the states and allows only Congress, not the president, to amend state rules.

The Elections Clause could not be more explicit: The “Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof.” The president is nowhere in that chain of authority.

Any such attempt would be unconstitutional and extraordinarily dangerous to democracy itself. According to The Washington Post, the administration would claim that Chinese interference in the 2020 election provides the hook for the executive order, invoking President Donald Trump’s foreign affairs powers to justify actions such as mandatory voter identification and the elimination of mail-in ballots. In other words, national security would be used as the rationale for overriding state control.

The theory — if you can call it that — appears to be that when there is a foreign threat to American elections, the president has inherent authority to act, even in areas that the Constitution expressly reserves to the states and to Congress. But that reasoning would not only stretch the Constitution, it would also open the door to genuine authoritarian autocracy.

https://www.heraldnet.com/2026/03/13/comment-constitution-clear-that-trump-cant-nationalize-elections/

[Skittles]

1. where does it say in the Constitution the Supreme Court can pick the president

yet they did

[Fiendish Thingy]

2. Except they didn't

They ruled on an equal protection issue regarding counting ballots.

It certainly put a thumb on the scale, but it’s not the same things as SCOTUS decreeing who the next president is.

[Skittles]

4. yeah OK

whatever

https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/december-12-2000-in-bush-v-gore-the-supreme-court-gives-the-presidential-election-to-george-w-bush/

[Fiendish Thingy]

5. If you don't see the difference, nothing I say will convince you

The 2000 election was a factor in my decision to move to Canada, so don’t misunderstand my hairsplitting specificity as naïveté.

[Skittles]

6. the "Equal Protection" argument was BULLSHIT

done SOLELY to make Dubya president

over and OUT

[Fiendish Thingy]

3. He can't control them or cancel them

That’s why he is trying to bully the senate into passing the SAVE act.

Nothing can stop the Blue Tsunami in November.

[lees1975]

7. How many times has Trump done something that the Constitution says he can't do, and no one has stopped him?

Last edited Sat Mar 14, 2026, 06:04 PM - Edit history (1)

And I'm not going to listen to that "Well the Democrats don't have the majority" crap any more, because, first of all, the Republicans derailed 80% of what Democrats wanted to do when we controlled Congress and the White House, in both Obama's and Biden's terms. It takes more than a "tsk tsk tsk," to put a stop to it, it takes some cooperation, focus, boldness, risk taking and putting aside the nest feathering and fundraising and "oh we'll get t the next time" rhetoric and taking physical and legal stept that are readily available to stop the guy. The Constitution provides multiple ways to make sure some poopie pants demagogue doesn't vilolate it.