Trump asks SCOTUS to allow mail-voting curbs

What happened

The Justice Department filed an emergency application Monday asking the Supreme Court to approve President Donald Trump’s executive order imposing new restrictions on voting by mail.

The request followed a ruling by a federal appeals court on Saturday that left in place a block on key parts of the March directive, which ordered federal agencies to create voter eligibility lists and restrict U.S. Postal Service delivery of ballots not tied to those lists. More than 20 Democratic attorneys general challenged Trump’s order as an unconstitutional move that could disenfranchise voters.

Who said what

In the emergency application, Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that the lower court’s “indefensible” ruling prevents the federal government from “promoting election integrity in the upcoming federal elections in November.” The judges on the First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in Saturday’s 2-1 ruling that Trump’s order would “sow confusion” and “threaten disenfranchisement” for many.

Legal experts question Trump’s order because the “Constitution gives power over elections to states and Congress, not the president,” The Wall Street Journal said. And despite Trump’s claims to the contrary, “independent research has found no evidence of rampant fraud in mail ballots.” SCOTUS “has shown skepticism” of his attempts to restrict mail-in voting before, said The New York Times. Last month, the justices rejected an effort to bar states from counting mailed ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive later.

What next?

The Democratic states that sued to block Trump’s executive order have until August 3 to respond to the government’s appeal. SCOTUS’s decision is “expected soon after,” the Journal said.

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