Democratic-led states ask Supreme Court to halt Trump administration's mail-ballot restrictions
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Twenty-three states with Democratic leadership petitioned the Supreme Court to block a presidential order that would require the Postal Service to use state-specific voter lists for mail ballots, arguing the rule would be implemented too close to the midterm elections.
California and 22 other states governed by Democrats filed a petition with the Supreme Court on Monday seeking to stop the Trump administration’s plan to limit mail-in voting through the U.S. Postal Service. The states contend that introducing new federal regulations this late in the election cycle could cause errors, such as eligible voters being told they are not on a federal list, and would leave little time to correct any mistakes. > "Because of the high risk of errors and the limited window for correcting mistakes, many of the millions of voters who rely on mail voting — especially voters with disabilities and those in rural areas — would likely be denied mail ballots and disenfranchised," the petition said. The states further argue that the Constitution assigns the authority to set election rules to the states and Congress, not the president. The Supreme Court is expected to rule in the coming days on whether to allow the administration’s plan to proceed while detailed guidelines are drafted. Last week, Solicitor General John Sauer filed an emergency appeal urging the Court to let the regulations stand, saying lower courts acted too quickly to block them despite the midterm elections being three months away. The executive order, issued on March 31, directs the Postal Service to use state-by-state lists of eligible voters for mail ballots and tasks the Department of Homeland Security with compiling those lists. Federal judges in Boston and the First Circuit have already blocked enforcement of the rules in the 23 states that sued. The petition noted that the Postal Service handled nearly 100 million mail ballots in 2024, with about 30 percent of all voters casting ballots by mail.