The Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court on Thursday to uphold a new U.S. Postal Service rule that tightens mail‑in ballot procedures, acting quickly after a federal judge halted the regulation shortly before the November midterm elections.
In an emergency filing, the Justice Department urged the Court to vacate the temporary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani of Boston, which bars the Postal Service from implementing the rule adopted under President Trump’s executive order aimed at limiting mail‑in voting.
The proposed regulation would require additional voter‑specific information and mandate the use of specially designed ballot envelopes with unique barcodes; non‑compliant ballots could be withheld from delivery, a prospect critics warn might jeopardize thousands of valid votes as the midterms near.
With Republicans fighting to keep control of Congress in the upcoming election, critics argue that limiting mail‑in ballots would likely favor the GOP, since Democratic voters historically rely more heavily on mail‑in voting.
This marks the administration’s second appeal to the Supreme Court in its defense of Trump’s directive against challenges from states and voting‑rights organizations; on August 24 the Court had previously lifted an injunction issued by Judge Talwani in June that blocked the executive order.
The ruling, backed by the Court’s 6‑3 conservative majority, criticized the coalition of predominantly Democratic‑led states for filing prematurely while acknowledging that future challenges remain possible; the three liberal justices dissented.
Under the new rule, states would be required to submit to the Postal Service lists of mail‑ballot recipients and to use agency‑approved outbound and return envelopes equipped with unique barcodes. The Postal Service could then decline to dispatch ballots that fail to meet these standards or are linked to voters absent from the provided lists.
President Trump, who signed the executive order targeting mail‑in ballots in March, has long questioned their security despite scarce evidence of fraud, and has repeatedly asserted baseless claims of widespread electoral fraud, including his 2020 defeat by former President Joe Biden.
A coalition comprising mostly Democratic‑led states, the District of Columbia, and several voting‑rights organizations has filed a legal challenge against the new USPS regulation.
On August 27 Judge Talwani issued a 14‑day temporary stay, ruling that the rule likely contravenes the Constitution—which assigns election administration to the states—and would be impracticable for states to implement with the midterms fast approaching.
The judge also convened a hearing on Thursday to determine whether a more lasting injunction should be granted.
