Courts Block Trump's Efforts to Expand Election Control

Federal courts and the Supreme Court of the United States have repeatedly blocked efforts by Donald Trump to increase executive control over U.S. elections. The judiciary has struck down multiple executive orders and dismissed over a dozen Justice Department lawsuits seeking sensitive voter data from states. Specifically, the Supreme Court upheld a Mississippi law allowing mail-in ballots to be counted up to five days after election day, rejecting the president's arguments against late-arriving ballots.

Other legal setbacks include a judge blocking the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's expansion of the SAVE database to include Social Security records of native-born citizens, citing privacy violations. Additionally, a March executive order seeking to grant the U.S. Postal Service authority to determine mail-in voting eligibility was blocked by a district court.

In response to these judicial losses, Trump has intensified pressure on Congress to pass the Save America Act, which would mandate the transfer of voter data to the administration and implement stricter voter ID requirements. To leverage this legislation, he has refused to sign a bipartisan housing affordability bill and urged Congress to prioritize the act over national security and defense spending bills. Despite these efforts, the Save America Act remains stalled due to disagreements between the president and Republican lawmakers.