美国一名联邦法官周一裁定，唐纳德·特朗普政府不得拒绝向那些未满足其选举管理要求的州提供联邦反恐资金。在一份长达24页的判决书中，华盛顿特区的美国地方法官阿米尔·阿里表示，联邦机构没有获得国会的授权来对这类拨款附加任何条件；同时，这些条件也不符合法律规定的“必须与拨款用途相关”的要求。提起诉讼的包括俄亥俄州的哥伦布市、田纳西州的纳什维尔县和戴维森县，以及德克萨斯州的埃尔帕索县和哈里斯县。
A federal judge in the United States on Monday blocked President Donald Trump's administration from withholding some federal counterterrorism funding from states that do not meet its election administration demands. In a 24-page opinion, US District Judge Amir Ali in Washington, DC, said federal agencies did not have authority from Congress to attach such conditions to the grants. He also said the conditions did not meet the legal requirement that they be related to the purpose of the grants. The case was brought by Columbus, Ohio; Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee; and El Paso and Harris counties in Texas.
今年夏天，联邦紧急事务管理局（FEMA）曾宣布：除非相关地区遵守一系列与选举相关的要求，否则将扣留其20%的反恐拨款。该计划为各州、地方政府及部落政府提供了超过10亿美元的资金，用于防范恐怖主义活动（尤其是在人群密集场所、网络领域以及边境安全方面）；FEMA计划发放共计56笔拨款。这些附加条件包括核实选民及选举工作人员的公民身份；使用带有条形码或二维码的电子投票系统的地区必须提交改用纸质投票票的方案；所有相关机构还必须证明自己能够对选举结果进行审计。
Over the summer, a FEMA anti-terrorism grant announcement said 20 per cent of grants for states and urban areas would be withheld until they complied with a list of election-related requirements. The programme includes more than USD 1 billion for states and local and tribal governments for measures aimed at preventing terror at crowded places, online, with border security and around elections. FEMA expects to award 56 grants. The list of conditions included verifying the citizenship of alled voters and election workers. Places using electronic voting systems with barcodes or QR codes to count votes would also have had to submit plans to switch to hand-marked paper ballots. Every jurisdiction would have had to show that it audits results.
在诉讼中，这些地方政府指出：FEMA既无权依据现行法规也无权依据宪法来施加这些限制。他们强调，国会授权FEMA的目的是协助各机构保护关键基础设施免受恐怖主义和网络攻击的威胁，而非决定谁有投票权、如何计票或如何管理选民名单。他们表示：“FEMA此前从未试图干涉各州和地方的选举运作方式。”
In the lawsuit, the cities and counties said FEMA had no authority to impose those conditions, "not under its governing statute and not under the Constitution". They said Congress had authorised FEMA to help jurisdictions protect critical infrastructure from terrorism and cyberattacks, not to decide who can vote, how ballots must be counted or how states maintain voter rolls. "Never before has FEMA purported to regulate how states and counties run elections," they said.
国土安全部和联邦应急管理局（FEMA）均未立即回应置评请求。这些拨款条件是特朗普政府塑造选举运作方式的最新举措，而这一角色长期以来由各州负责。法院基本驳回了该政府早前与大规模选举舞弊指控相关的努力，阿里法官的命令是该推动行动遭遇的最新挫折。PTI供稿- 完毕
Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor FEMA immediately responded to a request for comment. The grant conditions were the latest step by Trump's administration to shape how elections are run, a role long handled by states. Courts have largely rejected the administration's earlier efforts linked to claims of widespread voting fraud, and Judge Ali's order is the latest setback to that push. With PTI Inputs- Ends