Supreme Court deals Trump a blow, blocks new mail ballot restrictions ahead of midterms

On September 15, the US Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump's plan to restrict mail-in voting before the November midterm elections. The high court denied Trump's request to overturn an order that halted the implementation of the proposed voting restrictions. Only two of the six conservative justices on the nine-member panel dissented to the majority decision.

In his concurring opinion with the majority, Justice Brett Kavanaugh stated that while Trump's plan may ultimately be legal in the long run, "state and local election officials do not have sufficient time to reasonably implement the rule before the elections."

Trump signed an executive order in March aiming to restrict mail-in voting, despite lacking evidence of widespread fraud. The order quickly faced multiple legal challenges from Democratic-led states, which argued that under the US Constitution, states—not the federal government—maintain broad control over election administration.

The executive order would have required the compilation of voter lists and mandated the US Postal Service to deliver ballots only to voters on those lists. Multiple states, including North Carolina, had already begun sending mail-in ballots to voters in anticipation of the November 3 vote. A USPS whistleblower had also warned that millions of Americans may not receive their ballots due to the postal service's rushed and flawed systems.

Several states, such as North Carolina, had already started sending out mail-in ballots to voters ahead of the election. Additionally, a USPS whistleblower raised concerns about the potential inability of millions of Americans to receive their ballots due to the postal service's "sloppy and rushed" systems. Trump has long been critical of mail-in ballots, yet he has personally used them multiple times, including in the recent Florida Republican primary.

The president has consistently claimed, without evidence, that mail-in voting is highly susceptible to fraud, linking it to his false assertion that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him by Democrat Joe Biden. Recent polls indicate that Trump's Republican Party is facing a significant threat of losing its narrow control of Congress in November, particularly in the House of Representatives.

If Democrats win, they have signaled their intention to block Trump's agenda and potentially impeach him for the third time.