Federal judge rules against FEMA threat to block anti-terrorism funds

A federal court ruled in favor of Metro Nashville and five other cities and counties, striking down the Trump administration’s effort to withhold anti-terrorism funds unless they adopted election-system policies targeting to check citizenship.

The Monday ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Amir Ali in the District of Columbia vacated conditions placed on election offices requiring that they enact multiple voting requirements or face an order by the Federal Emergency Management Agency holding back 20% of grant funds to counter terrorism, a program enacted 25 years ago in the wake of 9/11.

The local governments, which are represented by Protect Democracy, sued the Trump administration, saying the Department of Homeland Security was “holding public safety funding hostage” to “coerce” states and local governments to adopt policies the administration has failed to impose in court.

Metro Nashville joins lawsuit claiming feds withheld millions

In the ruling, Amir wrote, “[T]he statute gives FEMA the authority to fund projects proposed by states and high-risk urban areas; it does not give FEMA authority to use the possibility of grants to induce states or high-risk urban areas to carry out the federal government’s preferred projects at their own expense.”

Metro Nashville and the five other local governments said states were to be required to use DHS’s “notoriously error-filled” Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system to “verify” citizenship for all pollworkers and registered voters, putting higher and “impractical” costs on electronic voting systems, and charging a 5% manual paper-ballot audit.

Metro Nashville Law Director Tyler Yarbro said Nashville doesn’t need Washington “dictating” the terms for elections in exchange for public safety funding. The ruling “demonstrates the necessity of the checks and balances the Trump administration is actively trying to eliminate,” she said.

Metro Nashville was joined in the lawsuit by Columbus, Ohio and four Texas counties, El Paso, Harris, Dallas and Travis counties.