A federal judge on Monday struck down a Trump administration rule that withheld counterterrorism grants from states and cities unless they made changes to how they administer elections.

US District Judge Amir Ali in Washington DC ruled the Federal Emergency Management Agency exceeded its authority by “conditioning the counterterrorism grant funds on changes to routine election administration.” He sided with counties and cities in Texas, Ohio and Tennessee that sued to block the rule.

The Department of Homeland Security had announced it would withhold 20% of funding under the roughly $1.1 billion grant programmes until state and local governments adopted election measures favoured by the administration, including verifying citizenship of registered voters and poll workers and changing ballot and audit procedures.

“Congress did not authorize the grant program to be used for the sort of election administration reforms FEMA demands here,” Ali wrote, finding the conditions bore no relation to preparing for or responding to “acts of terrorism.”

A separate challenge brought by 24 Democratic attorneys general and the Democratic governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania remains pending. Neither DHS nor the Justice Department immediately responded to requests for comment.