President Donald Trump’s administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to give the US Postal Service sweeping power to withhold delivery of mail ballots, setting up an extraordinary showdown over voting at the high court less than two months before the November midterm election.
The emergency appeal, which leapfrogged lower courts still considering the case, is the culmination of a monthslong legal fight over an executive order the president signed in March that gave federal agencies an unprecedented role in elections. Voter advocacy groups and a coalition of 23 Democratic-led states challenged that order in federal court, arguing that neither the president nor the post office should have a role in choosing which mail ballots reach voters.
With the midterm elections nearing, and the first ballots entering the mail this week, the 6-3 conservative Supreme Court will be under enormous pressure to decide the case on an unusually speedy timeline. The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to step in immediately with a short-term order that would allow the Postal Service to implement its new regulations.
The administration described its rules as “only modest envelope-design and addressee-information requirements.” Throughout its appeal, the administration framed its effort as having more to do with its power to regulate the mail than anything to do with elections.
