The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to lift a lower court’s block on an executive order aimed at tightening rules on mail-in voting ahead of the midterm elections in November.Trump issued an executive order in March that aimed to create federal eligibility lists and restrictions on the delivery of mail ballots, which was challenged in federal court by a coalition of Democratic states that claimed it constituted unlawful interference in state election procedures. Solicitor General D. John Sauer urged the high court to lift an injunction on the executive order placed by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, last month, claiming the injunction was done prematurely and noting that agencies had not even implemented any policy changes.
“The injunction is particularly remarkable because the Order merely sets forth general policy guidance, leaving substantial discretion to agencies about how to implement the Order while admonishing them that they may do so only consistent with applicable law. And the injunction is especially indefensible because the agencies are still deliberating over how (if at all) to implement the Order, yet the district court preemptively decided that whatever the agencies may choose to do will necessarily be unlawful,” Sauer wrote.
