Federal Appeals Court Declines to Block Trump's Mail-Ballot Executive Order
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A three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit upheld a lower-court ruling that an injunction against President Trump's mail-voting order was premature, while noting potential implementation challenges before the November midterms.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Tuesday refused to block President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at restricting mail voting. The panel affirmed a May decision by U.S. District Court Judge Carl J. Nichols that an injunction was premature because the administration had not yet issued the formal regulations required to enforce the order. The administration began releasing those directives days later.
The panel, composed of two judges appointed by former President Barack Obama and one appointed by Trump, found the lower-court ruling proper and issued no dissent. The unsigned opinion warned that if the administration attempted to implement the changes in the months leading up to the November midterm elections, courts might intervene.
“The action the Order contemplates would involve the President, whom the Constitution vests with no express authority over the conduct of elections, undertaking a substantial and unfunded overhaul of election procedures — including the implementation of a nationwide reform to Postal Service mail-handling processes — on the threshold of the November election. Put differently, the Order ‘may not prove feasible to implement in any manner whatsoever,’” the opinion quoted.
In a related case, a federal judge in Massachusetts blocked the order earlier this year, finding that it forced states to alter election procedures without constitutional authority. That decision was upheld by a Boston appeals court and subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court.
The U.S. Postal Service has not commented on its response to the order. The American Postal Workers Union, which opposes the directive, said its members are preparing an online portal that voters would need to use to qualify for mail ballots. Union President Jonathan Smith said, “The IT people in the background are moving forward with creating the portals to make sure that we can accomplish the task if given to us.”
The order follows previous executive actions by the Trump administration concerning voting procedures, including a March directive to create a list of eligible voters and a prior order proposing nationwide voter-ID requirements. Congressional efforts to enact similar measures have stalled in the Senate.