With less than 100 days before the midterm elections, the Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to allow an executive order that restricts mail-in voting — the same order that was just blocked by a lower court.
The emergency appeal to the court comes just days after the First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s ruling that blocked key provisions of Trump’s order, which seeks to create a federal list of eligible voters and only deliver ballots to the voters on that list.
In an emergency application filed Monday, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the court for immediate relief, arguing the lower court’s block “impedes the President’s ability to direct his subordinates and preempts the Executive’s deliberate policymaking.”
In its application, the administration asked the court to move quickly, arguing the new policies are critical and must be in place by the middle of August to be utilized for the November midterm elections.
“The harms to voter integrity in that election if the government’s policy is not in place cannot be undone even if the government later prevails,” Sauer wrote.
The March executive order that had been blocked, which is titled “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections,” would significantly restrict mail-in voting. The order directs the Department of Homeland Security to work with the Social Security Administration to create a state citizenship list of eligible voters.
The order also directs the U.S. Postal Service to only send mail ballots to people who are on the citizenship list.
A coalition of Democratic states filed a lawsuit challenging the executive order, arguing the president lacked the authority to impose restrictions on elections, which are administered by state election officials. The federal judge overseeing that case agreed.
“The Constitution does not grant the President any specific powers over elections,” wrote Judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee.
The states also argued the executive order could disenfranchise eligible voters, whose names or immigration status might not match the records in the voting database.
The Supreme Court has requested the states respond to the application by Aug. 3. The Court is expected to issue a ruling shortly after receiving that response.
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