Trump administration appeals again to US Supreme Court over mail-in voting — SkimNews
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- Trump administration filed an emergency Supreme Court appeal on Sunday — its third such request — seeking to let USPS track mail-in ballots and decide whether they can be rejected, two days after a federal judge blocked the executive order.
- US District Judge Indira Talwani ruled on Friday that Trump's USPS directives are likely unconstitutional and warned that, with two months until election day, enforcement "threatens disenfranchisement of millions of United States citizens who seek to vote by mail."
- US Solicitor General John Sauer countered that the rule imposes only "modest envelope-design and addressee-information requirements" and does not federalize elections, leaving states in charge of voter eligibility and ballot deadlines.
- Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson set a Wednesday deadline for responses to the administration's emergency request.
- Trump has long pushed to limit mail-in voting despite voting by mail himself, falsely claiming it is "ripe with fraud," while opponents say the real motivation is that Democrats disproportionately use the practice.
- States United Democracy Center analysis found mail voting is bipartisan: one in four registered Democrats and one in five registered Republicans voted by mail in the 2024 presidential election.
- The legal battle carries heightened stakes as control of the US Congress hangs on the November midterms, and several states have already begun sending out postal ballots.
Why it matters: Talwani's Friday ruling warned enforcement could disenfranchise millions with only two months until the midterms — and some states have already mailed ballots. The States United data buried in the article shows 1 in 5 Republicans also voted by mail in 2024, directly undercutting the fraud narrative Trump uses to justify the curbs.
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