The Trump administration on Wednesday again asked the US Supreme Court to intervene and allow full implementation of President Donald Trump's executive order restricting the use of mail-in ballots, a move that comes ahead of the November midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.
The US Department of Justice filed a request urging the justices to put on hold a decision made on Tuesday by US district judge Indira Talwani in Boston, which blocks the US Postal Service from nationwide enforcement of the directive's tighter rules for voting by mail.
Background of the Executive Order and Legal Challenge
Trump signed the executive order in March, after years of calling for restrictions on voting by mail and pushing the false claim that his 2020 election defeat was the result of widespread voter fraud. The order directed the Department of Homeland Security to compile and transmit to states a list of US citizens eligible to vote in each state, and the justice department to prioritize investigating and prosecuting state and local election officials who issue ballots to people deemed “not eligible” to vote in federal elections.
It also required the US Postal Service to deliver ballots only to voters on each state's approved mail-in ballot list. The US Postal Service recently moved to implement Trump's directive.
Judge's Ruling and Administration's Response
Talwani's decision on Tuesday, in a case brought by several voting rights groups and represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, effectively expands on an earlier order she issued in June preventing the enforcement of Trump's order in 23 mostly Democratic-governed states and Washington, DC, which had also challenged the action as unconstitutional.
The administration has already asked the Supreme Court to pause the June decision. In its brief filing on Wednesday, the justice department urged the Supreme Court to lift that decision and make clear that the ruling applies to the judge's action on Tuesday as well.
The administration contends that the lawsuits are premature as federal agencies have not yet taken any concrete actions that affect the plaintiffs, and so any harm they allege is speculative.
Legal Basis and Impact
In siding with the voting rights groups on Tuesday, Talwani wrote that the executive branch of the federal government had no authority to regulate elections, a responsibility that the US constitution assigns to individual states.
The Supreme Court's decision on the administration's request will determine whether the executive order's restrictions on mail-in ballots can be enforced nationwide, affecting how millions of Americans cast their votes in the upcoming midterm elections.
