The U.S. Supreme Court issued an unsigned order on Monday that permits President Donald Trump to enforce parts of an executive order aimed at restricting mail-in voting ahead of the midterm elections. The order pauses a lower-court ruling by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, which had blocked the Trump administration from implementing certain aspects of the executive order from March. This decision enables the Department of Homeland Security to proceed with creating lists of residents eligible to vote in 23 Democratic-led states.
While the ruling is considered an interim victory for Trump, it does not address the legality of the executive order itself. The court noted that the implementation of the order does not necessarily imply legality, stating, "time will tell." The court also indicated that the District Court lacked jurisdiction to prevent the government from attempting to implement the order.
However, a separate injunction issued by Talwani on August 11 continues to prohibit the Postal Service from making procedural changes before the November 3 elections, which means the administration may need to seek emergency relief to address that order.
In March, Trump signed an executive order directing the U.S. Postal Service to establish a national voter list to determine eligibility for mail ballots. Recently, the USPS adopted new standards for mail-in ballots in federal elections, requiring states to submit voter and ballot-tracking information through a federal portal before ballots can be mailed. States that do not comply risk having their ballots rejected for delivery by the USPS.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson criticized the court's order, arguing that the government suffers no harm from an injunction that limits unlawful actions.