The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to let the Postal Service roll out new rules for handling mail ballots before November's midterms. In an emergency filing, Solicitor General D. John Sauer urged the justices to lift a lower-court order that is temporarily blocking USPS from enforcing its plan, which stems from an executive order by President Trump, the Hill reports. The Supreme Court has already allowed that order to stand, but US District Judge Indira Talwani last week froze the Postal Service's implementation of the rule while a legal challenge proceeds.
With states about to start sending ballots—North Carolina as soon as Friday, Alabama next week—the administration argues that the pause is unjustified and that time is short. The USPS rule would require states' mail ballots to use specific envelope designs, including unique barcodes and an official logo, and would bar delivery of ballots that don't comply or aren't tied to approved voter lists. Democratic-led states and advocacy groups, represented in part by the ACLU, say the rule illegally intrudes on state control of elections and could disrupt voting "on the eve of an election." They have until Tuesday morning to respond to the government's request.
Appealing a federal judge's temporary restraining order, which generally cannot be appealed, is rare, per the Washington Post, as is skipping over an appeals court. The Supreme Court could take up the case at this step or wait until it has been through the usual appeals process. Trump maintains the rules are needed to keep people who aren't citizens from voting; studies have found that to be a rare occurrence.
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