GOP states urge Supreme Court to lift block on Trump’s mail-in ballot order
A coalition of Republican-led states has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift a block on parts of President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at tightening mail-in voting rules. The order, signed in march, sought to create eligibility lists and restrict mail ballot delivery, but was blocked by a federal court in June and the appellate court declined to lift the stay. The GOP coalition intervened, urging the Supreme Court to intervene through an emergency petition, arguing that the district court’s decision was premature and that the states have a stake in implementing the order. The coalition highlights that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit previously noted it was “to early” to challenge the executive order.The Court has requested responses from Democrat-led states by Monday, with a decision expected shortly. This legal action is part of a broader trend of challenging executive orders before policies are finalized.The Supreme Court has been favoring the Trump administration’s emergency requests recently,though its overall record on the merits has been mixed.
A coalition of Republican-led states asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to lift a block on key parts of President Donald Trump’s executive order tightening rules on mail-in voting, days after the Justice Department made a similar request to the high court.
Trump signed an executive order in March that aimed to create federal eligibility lists and restrictions on the delivery of mail ballots, calling on federal agencies to enact policies in line with those goals. A coalition of Democrat-led states sued the Trump administration over the law. A federal district court blocked the implementation of the order in June, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit declined to lift the block this month. A coalition of GOP states, led by Missouri, intervened in the case on the side of the Trump administration and urged the Supreme Court to lift the block in an emergency petition filed Wednesday.
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The petition argues that the district court’s decision to block the executive order was premature, claiming that the Democrat-led states did not have proper standing to file the lawsuit since there was no specific policy being challenged.
“Merits aside, the federal government and [coalition of GOP states] easily satisfy the requirements for a stay. On their side of the irreparable harm balance, [the coalition of Democratic states] can point only to speculative injuries from non-finalized policies—which they can challenge if and when those policies become final,” the petition said.
“On the other side, the federal government is irreparably harmed when courts do not give it a chance to lawfully implement the President’s policy agenda. And [the coalition of GOP states] are irreparably harmed by being blocked from (1) accessing the optional State Citizenship Lists envisioned by Section 2(a) of the [executive order] and (2) benefitting from the potential reforms in Section 3(b) that could strengthen the security of mail-in voting,” the petition continued.
The GOP-led states also pointed out that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit declined to block the executive order earlier this week, noting it was “too early to challenge the EO,” and said the disagreement between the appeals courts could make this case worthy of elevating to the merits docket for full arguments.
“More broadly, this case is part of a growing trend whereby litigants challenge executive orders instead of waiting to sue over finalized agency policies. In granting a stay, the Court could help check that trend, which undermines core Article III standing rules,” the petition said.
TRUMP ASKS SUPREME COURT TO UNBLOCK MAIL-IN VOTING EXECUTIVE ORDER
The Supreme Court has requested a response from the coalition of Democrat-led states, in both the emergency petition filed by the DOJ this week and the one filed by the GOP-led states on Wednesday, by 4 p.m. Monday. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the petition shortly after that.
The Trump administration has seen significant success on the Supreme Court’s emergency docket since returning to office early last year, with a historic number of requests and wins, but has had a mixed record on the merits docket. During this past high court term, the administration won cases over Trump’s firing power within the executive branch and ended Temporary Protected Status for people from Haiti and Syria, along with various other immigration cases. The major losses for the administration last term came in cases over Trump’s sweeping tariffs, his birthright citizenship order, and his bid to fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook.
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