Trump Administration Urges SCOTUS to Allow Mail-In Ballot Suppression Rule

The Trump administration on Monday again urged the Supreme Court to overturn a federal judge’s order that prohibits the United States Postal Service (USPS) from implementing a rule that would restrict the ability of voters to cast their ballot by mail.

In a brief to the court, US Solicitor General John Sauer on Monday (falsely) claimed that the regulation, which was issued on Friday evening, only “impose[s] modest envelope-design requirements for federal ballot mail.”

In reality, it would require states to submit lists of voters authorized to send and receive ballots, which means the rule would have a massive impact on the upcoming midterms and future elections.

The regulation is part of Donald Trump’s efforts to exert more federal control over US elections. However, since he lacks the constitutional authority to do so, Massachusetts District Court Judge Indira Talwani blocked USPS from enforcing the rule. Indeed, the case can be made that the administration was in defiance of that injunction when it worked on and published the new USPS standards.

In response, Talwani on Monday gave the administration just one day to respond to an emergency motion blocking the publication of the final rule in the Federal Register this week that several voting rights groups had filed over the weekend.

These organizations, headed by the League of Women Voters, note that the administration could have complied with the judge’s injunction if it had made clear that any new rules would only go into effect after the midterms.

However, seeing how Trump hopes to ward off a GOP defeat in the upcoming election, USPS made clear that the rule would go into effect right away, i.e., as soon as the injunction is lifted, even though the first votes will be cast in a month and we are already well within the 90-day window in which election administrators usually no longer make major changes.

“The issuance of the Final Rule with immediate effect will also sow widespread confusion among election officials and the public, thereby undermining voter confidence and disrupting the administration of elections,” that emergency motion states.

While it certainly would do those things, Trump hopes that it would also give Republicans a much-needed edge in an election that is shaping up to be a major defeat for him and the GOP… as long as it is fair.

To ensure that the midterms aren’t, the president is now pinning his hopes on the Supreme Court, which could rule on the issue at any time or, in order to stay out of the controversy, wait to weigh in on it until it would no longer be possible to implement the regulation this year.