08/29/2026
🚨BREAKING: Clinton judge BLOCKS Ohio’s proof-of-citizenship law with the midterms 66 days away!! 🚨
A federal judge in Cleveland just told Ohio it is not allowed to check whether the people registering to vote are American citizens.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr., appointed by Bill Clinton in 1994, issued a preliminary injunction blocking House Bill 54.
That law, signed by Gov. Mike DeWine last year, required anyone registering to vote at the BMV to show a passport, a birth certificate, or another document proving citizenship.
That’s it. That’s the whole law. Show a document proving you’re a citizen before you get a ballot.
Judge Oliver says Ohio can’t do that.
His reasoning should alarm every American who cares about honest elections. He ruled that asking for documentary proof of citizenship demands “more than the minimum amount of information necessary” under the National Voter Registration Act.
In his words: “signed attestation of citizenship is enough.”
Read what that means in plain English. A signature on a form is all the proof a state is allowed to ask for.
A person checks a box, signs a line, and Ohio has to take his word for it. No passport. No birth certificate. Nothing.
We require more proof to rent a car.
We require more proof to open a bank account. We require more proof to board an airplane.
But the one act that decides who governs this country? A checkbox will do.
Now look at who brought this case.
The plaintiffs were the Ohio Alliance of Retired Americans and a progressive group called Red Wine & Blue. Their lawyers? The Elias Law Group.
That is Marc Elias’s firm, the same operation that has represented the Democratic Party in courtroom after courtroom, fighting voter ID, fighting citizenship verification, fighting every commonsense safeguard states try to put in place.
They did not pick Ohio by accident. Ohio has a Senate race this fall that could decide control of the U.S. Senate.
The registration deadline is October 5. The election is November 3. And in the final weeks before both, a Clinton judge handed Marc Elias exactly what he asked for.
Ask yourself why a group that says it wants to “protect voters” would spend its money and legal firepower making sure the state cannot confirm those voters are citizens.
There’s more. Back in June, the Trump Justice Department tried to file a brief defending Ohio’s law. Judge Oliver refused to let them. He called the filing redundant and too late.
So the federal government that enforces federal election law was shut out of a case about federal election law. Then the judge ruled against the state.
This is what an activist judiciary looks like.
One unelected judge, appointed 32 years ago, overrides a law passed by the people’s elected representatives and signed by the people’s elected governor.
He substitutes his own view of what “necessary” means for the judgment of the entire Ohio General Assembly.
And he does it on a schedule that makes appeal nearly impossible before the deadline passes.
Secretary of State Frank LaRose says he will appeal immediately. Good. He should. But every day this injunction stands, people are registering at BMVs across Ohio with nothing but a signature standing between them and a ballot.
Federal law already says noncitizens cannot vote in federal elections.
Everyone agrees on that.
The only question is whether a state is allowed to verify it. Judge Oliver’s answer is no. Just trust the signature.
We did not get to this moment overnight.
For years, the Left has said noncitizen voting is a myth and that verification is unnecessary. Then when a state actually tries to verify, they run to court and get the verification struck down.
The argument eats its own tail. If noncitizens aren’t registering, showing a birth certificate costs nobody anything. If they are, then Ohio was right to ask.
Either way, the law should stand.
Congress can fix this.
The SAVE Act would require documentary proof of citizenship nationwide and end this state-by-state lawfare for good. It has been sitting there for months.
Every Republican who says election integrity matters now has a chance to prove it before November.
Ohio tried to do the right thing. A Clinton judge and Marc Elias stopped it.
The midterms are 66 days away.
