Trump Team Again Asks Supreme Court to Restrict Mail Ballots
The Justice Department wants the high court to lift a Boston judge's ruling blocking nationwide enforcement of Trump's mail-ballot order.
The Trump administration on Wednesday again asked the Supreme Court to intervene to fully implement the president's executive order restricting mail-in voting ahead of the November midterms.
The Justice Department filed a request asking the justices to put on hold a Tuesday ruling by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston that blocks the U.S. Postal Service from nationwide enforcement of the order's tighter mail-ballot rules.
Trump signed the executive order in March after years of calling for restrictions on mail voting and pushing the false claim that his 2020 election loss resulted from widespread voter fraud.
Talwani's Tuesday ruling, in a case brought by voting rights groups represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, expands on an earlier order she issued in June that blocked enforcement of the directive in 23 mostly Democratic-governed states and Washington, D.C. Those states and the district had also challenged the order as unconstitutional.
The administration had already asked the Supreme Court to pause the June ruling. In Wednesday's filing, the Justice Department urged the court to lift that decision and clarify that it also applies to Tuesday's ruling.
The administration argues the lawsuits are premature because federal agencies have not yet taken concrete action affecting the plaintiffs, making any alleged harm speculative.
Trump's order directed the Department of Homeland Security to compile and send states lists of citizens eligible to vote, and instructed the Justice Department to prioritize investigating and prosecuting election officials who issue ballots to people deemed ineligible for federal elections. It also required the Postal Service to deliver ballots only to voters on each state's approved mail-in list. The Postal Service has already moved to implement the directive.
In her ruling, Talwani wrote that the executive branch has no authority to regulate elections, a responsibility the Constitution assigns to individual states.
This article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI), in accordance with our editorial policy.
