Loss for Trump: Supreme Court Won’t Let the Postal Service Curb Mail-In Votes

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to let the Postal Service enforce a new rule targeting mail-in voting, handing President Donald Trump a defeat in his bid to restrict mail-in voting ahead of November’s midterm elections.

The justices rejected the Justice Department’s request to lift a ruling by federal judge Indira Talwani in Boston, who blocked the Postal Service from implementing the measure while legal challenges from states and voting-rights groups continue. The agency adopted the measure after an executive order by Trump in March to tighten mail-in voting rules.

Under the new rule, states must give the Postal Service lists of mail-in ballot recipients and use agency-approved envelopes with unique codes; the Postal Service could then refuse to deliver ballots that don’t match the new standards or are tied to voters not on the lists. Critics say the plan could disrupt delivery of thousands of legitimate ballots, with the Nov. 3 election near, while the administration defends it as a measure against election fraud — for which evidence is rare.

Justice Samuel Alito, joined by conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, dissented from Monday’s decision, writing that the Trump administration was “likely to win on the merits of the appeal.” Another federal judge, Carl Nichols in Washington D.C., had also struck down the rule a day earlier, writing that “no law gives the Postal Service the power to issue the key parts of the rule.”

Trump’s Republicans are in a tight battle to keep control of Congress in the midterms. Restricting mail-in votes would favor Republicans, as Democratic voters use them disproportionately, according to polls. Trump signed the executive order after years of doubts about mail-in voting security, although he himself votes by mail; all 50 states allow some form of mail-in voting.

Source: Reuters