Trump Appeals to Supreme Court Over Mail-In Voting Order

The administration of Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court of the United States to intervene after the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a block on a March 31 executive order. The order, titled "Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections," seeks to restrict mail-in voting by requiring the U.S. Postal Service to deliver ballots only to individuals on federal citizenship lists compiled by the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration. It also mandates secure envelopes with tracking barcodes and threatens to withhold federal funding from non-compliant states.

In a 2-1 decision on July 25, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a June 25 injunction by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani. The court ruled that the order imposed unprecedented federal involvement in state-administered elections, which are reserved for states and Congress under the Constitution. The ruling applies to the District of Columbia and 23 states, including California and Massachusetts. Conversely, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit refused to block the order on July 28, though it noted the measure might be infeasible to implement before the November 3 midterm elections.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that the injunction is "indefensible" because agencies are still deliberating implementation. President Trump defended the order as a necessary safeguard against "legendary" cheating in mail-in voting. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson declined an immediate stay, granting the plaintiff states until August 3 to respond to the administration's emergency application.