The Supreme Court on Monday barred the US Postal Service from implementing new restrictions on mail-in voting, in a blow to President Trump’s controversial effort to crack down on alleged fraud ahead of the midterm elections.
In an apparent 7-2 ruling, a majority of the justices rejected the Trump administration’s emergency appeal seeking to throw out a lower court order that blocked the new restrictions from being implemented before the critical November contests.
The decision will allow states to continue sending out mail ballots, which typically account for nearly a third of votes cast, under the same processes they’ve used in previous elections.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was nominated to the bench by Trump in 2018, sided with the majority, arguing that while there is a “fair prospect that the final rule falls within” the Postal Service’s authority, “applying the rule in the 2026 elections would be arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act because state and local election officials do not have sufficient time to reasonably implement the rule before the elections.”
Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented.
“Some of the plaintiffs lack standing, while the remainder are pursuing a claim that this Court has recently called a ‘Hail Mary pass’ that ‘rarely succeeds,’” they wrote in dissent.
They further argued that the Postal Service has “broad authority to regulate the mail” and suggested the Trump administration would be likely to succeed on the merits of its appeal.
Trump’s March 31 executive order on mail-in voting called for the creation of a list of eligible voters and directed the Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to people on those lists.
Last month, the Postal Service published a rule that would require states to provide the agency with lists of eligible voters before the midterm elections.
Under the rule, the Postal Service will not send out mail ballots from any state that doesn’t provide its list of eligible voters.
More than two dozen Democrat-led states, including California and New York, sued over the implementation of Trump’s executive order.
“After losing in the district and appellate courts, the Trump Administration has now lost at the U.S. Supreme Court,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta wrote on X.
“Today’s decision is a victory for our democracy and a powerful affirmation of the rule of law,” the Democratic AG continued. “We will remain vigilant in safeguarding our elections, and we urge every eligible voter to make their voice heard.”
New York Democratic Attorney General Letitia James said the ruling “protects one of our most fundamental rights – the right to make your voice heard at the ballot box.”
“Now, I encourage all eligible Americans to get out and vote — and vote early,” James wrote on X.
The White House did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
