Last updated: July 16, 2026. This page lists the most egregious violations. See also additional states’ rights violations.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
| Date | Administration Action | Why does this violate the Constitution? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 2025 | Signed an executive order that forces states to adopt proof of citizenship requirements to vote, remove people from voter rolls, and share election data with the federal government. | Article I, Section 4 of the Constitution states “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations…” State election law can only be changed by an act of Congress. | In June 2026, a federal judge permanently blocked key provisions of the order, ruling that the Constitution “does not grant the President any specific powers over elections.” The president responded with a second elections executive order in March 2026 (see below), much of which was also declared unconstitutional. |
| June 2025 | Federalized roughly 4,000 members of the California National Guard and deployed them, along with about 700 active-duty Marines, to Los Angeles over the governor’s explicit objection — the first federalization of a state’s National Guard without the governor’s consent in 60 years. | California sued, arguing the deployment exceeded presidential authority under federal law and the Tenth Amendment. After a trial, a federal judge ruled in September 2025 that the administration violated the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits using the military for civilian law enforcement. | After the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Illinois case (see below), the administration abandoned the deployment in December 2025 and the soldiers were sent home. |
| August 2025 | Declared a “crime emergency” in Washington, DC, and attempted to install a federal official as “Emergency Police Commissioner” over the DC Metropolitan Police Department, displacing the city’s police chief. | DC’s attorney general sued, arguing the takeover far exceeded the president’s limited authority under the Home Rule Act, which allows temporary use of the police force’s services but not the replacement of its leadership. | After a federal judge indicated at an emergency hearing that she would block the order, the administration rescinded it rather than face an adverse ruling. |
| September 2025 | Ordered “all necessary troops” to Portland, Oregon, federalizing 200 Oregon National Guard members — and later attempting to send California and Texas Guard troops — over the governor’s objection, citing protests at an ICE facility. | In November 2025, a federal judge appointed by President Trump himself permanently blocked the deployment, ruling the president “did not have a lawful basis to federalize the National Guard” and that the deployment violated the Tenth Amendment. | The administration filed an emergency appeal, then dropped the effort after the Supreme Court’s December 2025 ruling in the Illinois case. |
| October 2025 | Federalized Illinois National Guard members and deployed Texas National Guard troops into Illinois over both governors’ objections to support immigration enforcement operations in Chicago. | Illinois and Chicago sued, alleging violations of federal law, the Tenth Amendment, and the Posse Comitatus Act. In December 2025, the Supreme Court ruled 6–3 that the president likely lacked authority for the deployment, stating he “failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois.” | This was the administration’s first Supreme Court loss on its domestic troop deployments. The president then announced the withdrawal of Guard forces from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland, while vowing to “come back… in a much different and stronger form.” |
| December 2025 | Launched “Operation Metro Surge,” flooding Minneapolis–St. Paul with roughly 2,000 federal immigration agents over the objection of Minnesota officials. During the operation, ICE officers shot and killed two people, including a U.S. citizen, triggering mass protests; the president then threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act against Minneapolis and the Justice Department opened investigations of the state’s governor and the city’s mayor. | Minnesota, Minneapolis, and St. Paul sued, alleging the operation violates the state’s sovereign authority under the Tenth Amendment and involves unlawful seizures, excessive force, and retaliation. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in January 2026, later stayed on appeal. | The Pentagon readied 1,500 active-duty soldiers for possible deployment to Minnesota, and Minnesota’s attorney general vowed to sue if the Insurrection Act were invoked (as of July 2026, it has not been). A separate lawsuit by protesters won a court order limiting federal agents’ crowd-control tactics. |
| March 2026 | Signed a second elections executive order directing federal agencies to compile citizenship lists for states, ordering the U.S. Postal Service to create a federal list of “approved” mail voters, and instructing USPS to refuse to deliver ballots from voters not on that list — ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. | Twenty-three states plus DC and voting-rights groups sued, arguing the order usurps state authority over elections under Article I, Section 4. In June 2026, a federal judge declared the order’s key provisions unconstitutional and void, barring federal agencies from interfering with states’ voter rolls or mail voting. | The administration appealed and said it would continue building the system for states that did not join the lawsuit. |