Trump Administration Seeks Supreme Court Review of Mail-In Ballot Restrictions
The Trump administration has again asked the US Supreme Court to intervene regarding an executive order that restricts mail-in ballots. A federal judge's ruling blocked nationwide enforcement of these tighter rules.
Key takeaways
- The Trump administration has requested Supreme Court intervention on an executive order concerning mail-in ballots.
- A federal judge blocked nationwide enforcement of tighter rules for mail-in voting.
- The executive order directed federal agencies to compile voter lists and prosecute election officials who issue ballots to ineligible individuals.
- The administration argues that lawsuits challenging the order are premature.
- The judge ruled that the federal executive branch cannot regulate elections, a power assigned to states by the US Constitution.
The administration of Donald Trump has formally requested the US Supreme Court's intervention to implement an executive order aimed at restricting mail-in ballot usage ahead of the November midterm elections. This action follows a decision by US District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston, which on Tuesday halted nationwide enforcement of the directive's stricter mail-in voting rules.
The US Department of Justice filed a request on Wednesday asking the Supreme Court to put the judge's ruling on hold. This directive, signed by Trump in March, was introduced after years of advocating for mail-in voting limitations and asserting unproven claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.
Judge Talwani's decision expands upon a previous order from June, which had already prevented the enforcement of Trump's order in 23 states and Washington, DC, that had challenged the measure as unconstitutional. The administration is seeking to have this June ruling, and now the Tuesday decision, overturned.
The Justice Department argued in its filing that the lawsuits are premature because federal agencies have not yet taken any definitive actions that would harm the plaintiffs, rendering alleged harms speculative. Trump's executive order tasked the Department of Homeland Security with creating lists of eligible voters for states and directed the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute state and local officials who issue ballots to ineligible individuals in federal elections. The order also mandated that the US Postal Service deliver ballots only to individuals on approved mail-in ballot lists.
The US Postal Service had recently begun to implement this directive. In her ruling, Judge Talwani stated that the federal executive branch lacks the constitutional authority to regulate elections, a power reserved for individual states.
Sources reviewed
Project Chintan independently synthesized and analyzed information cross-checked across the sources listed above.
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