Trump Administration Again Asks Supreme Court to Save Mail Ballot Plan

The Trump administration on Wednesday again asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene to implement President Trump's plan for the U.S. Postal Service to place new nationwide limits on mail voting.

This request follows a second ruling on Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, who blocked the Postal Service plan from moving forward nationwide. Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote to the high court that if it does not act quickly, the lower court's orders will effectively run out the clock on the government's ability to implement changes before the November midterm elections, causing irreparable harm to the federal government, the public, and election integrity.

Judge Talwani's Tuesday decision, in a case brought by the League of Women Voters and other voting rights groups, expanded on her June ruling. That earlier decision had barred the new measures from being implemented in California and 22 other states, plus Washington, D.C., which had challenged the rules as too late in the election year.

The June decision was upheld by an appellate court in July. Trump's executive order, signed in March, directed the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to compile lists of eligible voters for states. The order also sought to give the U.S. Postal Service a more direct role in election supervision, including delivering ballots only to voters enrolled through a new system.

Judge Talwani, an appointee of President Obama, stated that the executive branch has no authority to regulate elections and that the order was causing confusion for millions of citizens relying on mail voting.