The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday lifted one judicial barrier to President Donald Trump’s plan to restrict mail voting before November’s midterm elections, but left a separate nationwide injunction in place. The emergency ruling allows the administration to advance parts of its March executive order while further litigation proceeds, creating uncertainty only days before states begin sending the first ballots to military and overseas voters.
The Court’s 6-3 conservative majority did not decide whether the order is constitutional. It concluded that 23 mostly Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia challenged the policy too early because federal agencies had not yet taken concrete action harming them. The justices paused a June injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Massachusetts and said the states could return to court if implementation produces a more immediate injury.
Trump’s order directs the Department of Homeland Security to compile citizenship lists for states and tells the Justice Department to prioritize cases involving officials who provide ballots to people the federal government considers ineligible. It also directs the Postal Service to handle mail ballots only for voters appearing on approved state lists. Trump presents the measures as election-integrity protections, although noncitizen voting and mail-ballot fraud are rare.
The Postal Service finalized related rules requiring states to supply lists of mail voters and place new markings and unique barcodes on outgoing and returning ballot envelopes. A second order from Talwani, issued August 11 in a lawsuit brought by voting-rights groups, still blocks those postal changes nationwide for the 2026 election. The administration asked the judge late Monday to lift or suspend that remaining restraint after the Supreme Court acted.
Election administrators face a compressed calendar. North Carolina is due to mail ballots to military and overseas voters on September 4, with other states following soon afterward, while many envelopes and procedures are already prepared. Federal data cited by AP show that about 30 percent of ballots in the 2024 presidential election were cast by mail. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said voters there can still use mail voting and that no procedure has changed for them at present.
The dispute now returns to lower courts, where states and voting-rights organizations may renew or adjust their challenges against the final postal rule. The Supreme Court’s decision is preliminary and leaves both the legal authority for the executive order and its practical effect unresolved. Whether any restriction reaches voters before November will depend on rapid rulings in the remaining cases and on what federal agencies attempt to implement.
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