The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for the Trump administration to proceed, at least temporarily, with major portions of President Donald Trump’s effort to tighten rules surrounding mail-in voting, handing the White House an important legal victory just months before the November midterm elections.
In an unsigned order, the justices suspended a lower-court ruling that had barred the administration from moving ahead with provisions of Trump’s March executive order dealing with the U.S. Postal Service and state voter-eligibility records. The Supreme Court’s three liberal justices dissented.
The ruling, however, does not mean that the Postal Service can immediately begin enforcing its newly developed procedures for handling mail ballots.
A separate nationwide injunction issued on Aug. 11 by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston continues to prohibit USPS from putting those procedures into effect for the Nov. 3 elections. The Trump administration would need to successfully challenge that injunction before the Postal Service could implement the changes.
That distinction played a significant role in the Supreme Court’s reasoning.
The majority concluded that Trump’s executive order does not, on its own, compel states to alter their election procedures. Rather, the order instructs federal agencies to formulate policies that could eventually establish new conditions or requirements affecting states.
Because those federal policies had not yet taken effect when a coalition of 23 states and Washington, D.C., filed suit challenging the executive order, the justices determined that the lawsuit had been brought prematurely.
At the same time, the Supreme Court made clear that Monday’s ruling should not be interpreted as an endorsement of the legality of Trump’s executive order or of measures subsequently developed by federal agencies to carry it out.
“The Court’s disposition of this application does not mean that any measure taken by the Government to implement the Order will necessarily be lawful,” the majority wrote. “On that score, time will tell.”
The Postal Service finalized regulations last week aimed at implementing part of Trump’s directive. Among other changes, the rules establish new requirements governing ballot envelopes and barcodes, as well as information that states would be required to furnish to USPS.
Those regulations cannot yet take effect because they remain covered by Talwani’s separate nationwide injunction.
The broader legal battle will now continue before the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The dispute is unfolding against an increasingly tight election calendar, with some states preparing to begin sending ballots to military personnel and Americans living overseas in early September.
{Matzav.com}
