Trump administration renews Supreme Court bid to limit mail-in voting
Lawyers for the Trump administration filed an emergency application to the nation's highest court to allow the US Postal Service to implement a rule restricting mail-in voting
The Trump administration on Sunday renewed its appeal to the US Supreme Court to allow a plan that could limit mail-in ballots ahead of November's congressional elections, after a federal judge blocked those restrictions last week.
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Lawyers for the Trump administration filed an emergency application to the nation's highest court to allow the US Postal Service to implement a rule restricting mail-in voting, even as some US states have already started sending out postal ballots ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.
On Friday, Boston-based US District Judge Indira Talwani extended a ban preventing the new rule from taking effect.
The final decision on whether the administration's mail-in voting restrictions can proceed likely now rests with the Supreme Court.
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Solicitor General John Sauer, representing the Trump administration, urged the Supreme Court to allow the rule to immediately go into effect, warning that each day the lower court's injunction remains in place "risks sowing confusion and chaos" as more states issue mail ballots.
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson set a deadline of Wednesday for responses to the Trump administration's request.
The administration had filed an earlier emergency request to the Supreme Court to overturn Talwani's shorter-term injunction.
Before the top court had ruled on that application, she extended her ban on Friday, leading to the administration's new filing on Sunday.
The USPS issued its rule to implement an executive order that President Donald Trump signed in March.
Trump has spent years calling for restrictions on voting by mail, amid his false claims that his 2020 presidential election defeat was the result of widespread voter fraud.
Under the rule, states must supply the USPS with lists of mail ballot recipients, and all outbound and return ballot envelopes must bear unique barcodes.
The rule allows USPS to refuse to deliver ballots that do not comply with the new standards or are associated with voters not on the lists.
All US states allow for some form of mail-in voting.
Twenty-nine states allow voters to ask to cast ballots by mail without providing a reason, and eight conduct elections entirely by mail.
North Carolina on Friday became the first state to mail ballots for the elections in November.