Federal Appeals Rulings Address Trump Voter List Order and Mahdawi Deportation Case

Two distinct federal appeals court rulings occurred in separate cases involving the Trump administration. In one, a federal appeals court upheld a lower court's injunction blocking President Trump's order to create a federal voter list and limit eligibility for mail-in ballots. In the other, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, based in New York City, ruled on July 22, 2026, that a federal judge in Vermont had erred in ordering the release of Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian green card holder and Columbia University student activist. In the Mahdawi case, the Second Circuit found that the Vermont judge overstepped her authority by intervening before Mahdawi's case had moved through the immigration court system. The Vermont judge had previously found that the administration was likely targeting Mahdawi for his pro-Palestinian activism and had compared the government's actions to McCarthy-era repression. Mahdawi was arrested at his naturalization interview, an event that became a flashpoint in the administration's broader effort to deport foreign student activists; the administration has spent more than a year attempting to deport him. The appeals ruling opens the door to his potential re-arrest. The voter list ruling leaves in place the block on the administration's efforts to compile a federal voter list and restrict mail ballot access, though the specific scope of the appeals court's reasoning was not detailed in available reporting. In the Mahdawi case, the reversal returns the matter toward the immigration court process, though it remains unresolved whether Mahdawi will be re-arrested or what his immediate legal status is. Details on whether either ruling will be appealed further, including to the U.S. Supreme Court, were not specified in the available reports.