A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has blocked the Trump administration from conditioning counterterrorism grant funding on changes to state and local election procedures, creating a new legal dispute over federal authority and election administration.

U.S. District Judge Amir Ali ruled that the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency did not have congressional authority to impose the election-related conditions on the grants.

The administration had planned to withhold 20% of roughly $1.1 billion in counterterrorism grants unless jurisdictions adopted measures including hand-marked paper ballots, manual audits of ballots and additional checks of voter registration records.

The administration said the requirements were intended to strengthen election security and protect voting systems from foreign interference and cyber threats. The local governments challenging the policy argued that the grants were designed for counterterrorism purposes rather than election administration.

Judge Ali's ruling said Congress had not authorized FEMA to use the grant programs for the election reforms being demanded. A separate lawsuit involving mostly Democratic-led states remains pending.

The decision comes as states prepare for the November 2026 midterm elections, putting federal-state authority over election administration back into the national political debate.