The Trump administration has filed another emergency appeal to the US Supreme Court, seeking to reinstate new restrictions on mail-in voting ahead of November's midterm elections.
The filing, submitted on Sunday, came two days after a federal judge blocked the US Postal Service from enforcing President Donald Trump's executive order on mail-in ballots.
US District Judge Indira Talwani issued an order on Friday ruling that Trump's directives, which would grant the federal government power over the handling of mail-in ballots, are likely unconstitutional. In the United States, elections — including those for federal office — are administered by individual states.
The judge also criticised the timing of the executive order's implementation. With just two months until election day, she wrote, the order "threatens disenfranchisement of millions of United States citizens who seek to vote by mail."
The administration's emergency filing countered Talwani's ruling directly. "Contrary to the claims of the district court and respondents that the Postal Service is trying to federalise the rules for mail-in voting, the Postal Service's final rule imposes only modest envelope-design and addressee-information requirements for federal-election ballots sent via U.S. Mail," the filing stated.
US Solicitor General John Sauer, who argues cases before the Supreme Court on behalf of the federal government, said the order would not seize control of states' right to administer elections. He described the measures as "reasonable preparation requirements" for mail-in ballots.
"[The rule] requires States to upload the name, address and barcode information of intended recipients of ballot mail in an online portal — information that election officials would necessarily already possess to send ballot mail under the Rule to those recipients," Sauer wrote. "The Rule ensures that States remain responsible for determining voter eligibility and eligibility to vote by mail, and it does not dictate ballot content, mailing or receipt deadlines, or ballot-counting procedures."
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson set a Wednesday deadline for responses to the administration's request.
Sunday's appeal marks the third time the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to intervene in the matter. The court recently allowed the plan to move forward but did not rule on whether it was legal. Some states have already begun sending out postal ballots.
With control of Congress at stake in November, the Supreme Court's ruling on the appeal could carry significant consequences for the midterm elections.
Trump has long sought to limit mail-in voting, falsely claiming it is prone to fraud, despite having voted by mail himself. Critics argue his motivation is political, contending that Democrats use mail-in voting at higher rates than Republicans.
An analysis by the States United Democracy Center found that many voters, regardless of political affiliation, cast their ballots by mail. The research found that one in four registered Democrats and one in five registered Republicans voted by mail in the 2024 presidential election.
