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The administration of US President Donald Trump is seeking the intervention of the Supreme Court to advance the election reform agenda before the midterm elections next November, by allowing the nationwide implementation of an executive order restricting voting by mail.
In a motion filed Monday, the Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to put on hold a lower court ruling blocking implementation of Trump’s order.
The order, issued last March, directed the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to prepare lists of eligible voters for each state, and prohibited the US Postal Service from sending absentee ballots to anyone who is not on the list to participate in mail-in or absentee voting in the state.
On the other hand, Democratic officials in 23 states and the District of Columbia challenged Trump’s order, claiming that it was unconstitutional and exceeded the president’s powers.
Last month, an Obama-appointed federal judge in Massachusetts suspended parts of the order in those states before the November election.
An appeals court in Massachusetts rejected the administration’s request to suspend the injunction pending the appeal, despite the court’s split, with two judges appointed by Biden forming the majority, while a judge appointed by Trump partly agreed and partly dissented.
Attorney General D. John Sawyer sought an immediate stay of enforcement of the district court’s order pending the disposition of the appeal.
In the lawsuit, Sawyer argued that the district court “lacks jurisdiction to resolve this premature dispute,” as the agencies involved have not yet finalized their enforcement policies based on the executive order.
In early June, the Postal Service proposed amending its rules to comply with Trump’s order. At a Senate hearing later that month, Postmaster General David Steiner asserted that if the order passed, mail-in ballots would not be delivered in states that refused to share sensitive voter information with the government.
Sawyer also claimed in the lawsuit that the injunction “imposes irreparable harm on the government” because it “hinders the president’s ability to oversee the executive branch,” and that an administrative pause is justified to give agencies sufficient time to implement those policies.
For her part, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson asked the Democratic-led states that filed the lawsuit to respond in writing by next Monday.
Trump seeks to amend the electoral system by calling for interference in the elections
Trump’s executive order on mail-in voting is part of his broader efforts to reshape the American elections, as he spreads allegations of widespread fraud.
He described mail-in voting as “rigged” and “extremely corrupt,” and claimed that the United States “is the only country in the world that follows this approach.” However, despite the president’s repeated attacks, there is widespread evidence to suggest that mail-in voting fraud is extremely rare, and that states have adequate safeguards to limit it.
The president also pressured Congress to pass the “Save America” Act, which includes controversial requirements for voter identification, and even threatened not to sign other bills until it passed.
Earlier this month, in a televised address to the nation, Trump laid out allegations of Chinese interference in the 2020 election to justify his favored election reforms.
Some Republican senators called for canceling the August recess, in an attempt to ensure the passage of the voter ID bill.
However, the bill faltered in the Senate, putting Trump at odds with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who believes that Republicans lack the majority necessary to pass it without overriding the veto, which Thune described as a “bad idea.”
