{"id":2661712,"date":"2026-09-15T13:54:01","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T17:54:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignalito-hints-liberal-justices-slow-walked-dissents-to-stop-trumps-elections-order-for-midterms\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T18:00:00","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignalito-hints-liberal-justices-slow-walked-dissents-to-stop-trumps-elections-order-for-midterms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignalito-hints-liberal-justices-slow-walked-dissents-to-stop-trumps-elections-order-for-midterms\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Liberal Justices Delay Dissents To Stop Trump&#8217;s Voting EO?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Futm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignalito-hints-liberal-justices-slow-walked-dissents-to-stop-trumps-elections-order-for-midterms%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2661712&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Justice Samuel Alito hinted that liberal Supreme Court justices may have intentionally delayed their dissents in litigation over President Trump\u2019s mail-in voting order to influence the timing of its implementation for the 2026 midterms. Recently, the Supreme Court rejected the Trump governance&#8217;s request to pause a lower court stay on a new USPS rule requiring election officials to submit ballot design and voter information for approval, effectively preventing its use in the upcoming elections. <\/p>\n<p>Alito&#8217;s lengthy dissent criticized the court\u2019s majority decision and suggested that the liberal justices&#8217; slow pace may have been politically motivated, aiming to run out the clock on the policy. He pointed out that delays were partly caused by the challenge litigation initiated right after Trump\u2019s order,compounded by injunctions from Obama-appointed judges,which the court later found lacked jurisdiction. He also blamed the challenge states and courts for much of the delay, noting they had mixed opinions on the rule&#8217;s feasibility.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, Alito implied that liberal justices, driven by political motives, had previously delayed their dissents, notably in the 2022 Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Leaked drafts, threats to justices, and strategic footnotes were used to prolong cases like Dobbs and Louisiana v. Callais, likely to influence public perception and election outcomes. Alito&#8217;s comments suggest a pattern of delaying tactics by liberal justices to shape political results, raising concerns about the integrity of judicial process in politically sensitive cases.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Did the Supreme Court\u2019s liberal justices slow-walk their dissents in litigation over President Trump\u2019s mail-in voting order to run out the clock on its implementation for the 2026 midterms? That seems to be what Justice Samuel Alito subtly suggested in the court\u2019s most recent ruling on the subject.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday night, the high court <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/09\/15\/scotus-blocks-trumps-mail-in-voting-order-ahead-of-midterms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">rejected<\/a> the Trump administration\u2019s request to pause a lower court blockade on a new U.S. Postal Service rule. As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/obama-appointed-judge-ripped-blocking-trump-mail-ballot-rule-run-out-clock\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">described<\/a> by Fox News, the new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignscotus-blocks-trumps-mail-in-voting-order-ahead-of-midterms\/\" title=\"SCOTUS Blocks Trump&#039;s Mail-In ... Ahead Of Midterms\">rule required election officials<\/a> to \u201csubmit ballot-envelope designs for approval and upload voter information and unique tracking barcodes to a new USPS portal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The decision \u2014 which effectively bars the policy from taking effect for the fall elections \u2014 was presumably 7-2, with Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas saying they would have granted the government\u2019s request for relief. Aside from Justice Brett Kavanaugh \u2014 who said the USPS rule seems lawful but denied the government\u2019s request because it\u2019s too close to the midterms for election officials to implement it \u2014 the majority offered little explanation for its decision.<\/p>\n<p>Alito, on the other hand, penned a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/25pdf\/26a305_4g15.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lengthy dissent<\/a> (joined by Thomas) outlining several issues with the court\u2019s holding. It was in this opinion that the Bush 43 appointee seemingly telegraphed some potentially nefarious shenanigans by the court\u2019s Democrat appointees in the case. <\/p>\n<p>The apparent hint came in the dissent\u2019s concluding pages, in which Alito refuted the alleged concerns that the Democrat-led states challenging the Postal Service rule had regarding \u201cthe practical effects of implementing the rule close to the midterm elections.\u201d While taking \u201cthat problem very seriously,\u201d the justice highlighted two key points demonstrating why it isn\u2019t enough to warrant rejecting the government\u2019s request to implement the rule for the 2026 contests.<\/p>\n<p>On one hand, the senior justice noted how not even all the challenging states agree \u201cabout the nature of these effects.\u201d \u201cTwelve States supported the rule below and asserted that compliance at this time is practicable,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>The other and more significant point raised by Alito, however, is that the plaintiff states and federal courts \u2014 <em>including SCOTUS<\/em> \u2014 \u201cbear a substantial share of the blame for the rule\u2019s timing.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The justice chronicled the timeline of how the challenging states immediately sued the administration after Trump signed the contested order in late March, and how such litigation \u201ccast a cloud over the Government\u2019s ability to issue a final rule.\u201d He further observed how Obama-appointed District Judge <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/indira-talwani\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Indira Talwani<\/a> strung this lawfare along by \u201center[ing] several injunctions months later prohibiting the Government from undertaking that rulemaking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Supreme Court later determined in an <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/08\/24\/scotus-overturns-injunction-on-trumps-mail-in-voting-order\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Aug. 24 interim ruling<\/a> (6-3) that Talwani lacked jurisdiction to issue those injunctions because there were no newly issued USPS rules at that time that the plaintiffs had standing to challenge. That decision came with two dissents \u2014 one by Justice Sonia Sotomayor (joined by Justice Elena Kagan) and another by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson (which spanned a whopping 23 pages). <\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">In SCOTUS\u2019s interim ruling on elections EO, Justice Jackson penned a solo dissent spanning 23 pages \u2014 longer than the court\u2019s opinion and principal dissent combined. Pretty clear the majority was not amused with her arguments. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ppFYspGm1c\">pic.twitter.com\/ppFYspGm1c<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Shawn Fleetwood (@ShawnFleetwood) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ShawnFleetwood\/status\/2092007564951109670?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 24, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>While addressing these events, Alito seemed to suggest that the dissenting liberal justices bear some \u2014 if not<em> all<\/em> \u2014 of the blame for the Supreme Court\u2019s delay in adequately resolving the issue. He notably observed, \u201cNot only was the Government subject to months of premature litigation and a series of injunctions that this Court later determined were likely issued without jurisdiction, the Government had to wait nearly another full month for this Court to issue its decision so holding.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIndeed, this Court spent from late July to the end of August drafting nearly 40 pages of opinions, <em>including two dissents<\/em>, despite the Government\u2019s public notice that it would not publish a final rule while subject to the injunctions \u2026 and its representation that it had a strong interest in issuing its rule in early-to mid-August to allow time to implement it,\u201d Alito wrote (emphasis added). \u201cThe plaintiff States cannot claim the timing of the rule tilts the equities in their favor when they, and courts hearing their claims, are responsible for so much of the delay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So, did the Democrat appointees slow-walk their dissents in the hopes of running out the clock and increasing the chances that their conservative colleagues would vote to block Trump\u2019s USPS on the eve of the midterms? If they did, it wouldn\u2019t be the first time they\u2019ve engaged in such antics.<\/p>\n<p>In her bestselling book <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/alito-mollie-hemingway\/1147952913\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Alito<\/a><\/em>, Federalist Editor-In-Chief Mollie Hemingway revealed how the Supreme Court\u2019s liberal justices <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/04\/18\/explosive-report-as-dobbs-majority-faced-death-threats-liberal-justices-slow-walked-release\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dragged their feet<\/a> on finishing their dissent in the court\u2019s 2022 <em>Dobbs<\/em> decision overturning <em>Roe v. Wade<\/em> and the made-up \u201cright\u201d to abortion.<\/p>\n<p>After the majority\u2019s draft <em>Dobbs<\/em> opinion leaked, the conservative justices and their families came under a wave of threats from left-wing anarchists. In an apparent bid to tamp down these threats, the originalist justices pleaded with their liberal colleagues to quickly finish their dissent so the court could release the full <em>Dobbs<\/em> decision.<\/p>\n<p>The left-wing justices, however, did the exact opposite. <\/p>\n<p>Sources told Hemingway that Kagan screamed at Justice Stephen Breyer for his apparent willingness to oblige the conservatives\u2019 request that the liberals quickly finish their dissent. The Federalist editor-in-chief also described how the liberal justices included a <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/04\/23\/how-liberal-justices-used-a-footnote-to-drag-out-dobbs-release-amid-assassination-threats\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">gratuitous footnote<\/a> in their dissent to an unreleased case that further delayed the <em>Dobbs<\/em> decision by several more weeks.<\/p>\n<p>A Supreme Court decision is not considered final until it is handed down from the bench. That means that had one of the justices in the <em>Dobbs<\/em> majority changed his or her mind due to the threats against them \u2014 or worse, if Kavanaugh\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/10\/04\/biden-judge-gives-would-be-kavanaugh-assassin-light-sentence-as-left-wing-violence-skyrockets\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">attempted killer<\/a> had been successful \u2014 the case\u2019s outcome would have changed.<\/p>\n<p>The Democrat appointees\u2019 purported willingness to drag out their dissents for political purposes was also <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/05\/11\/scotus-liberals-caught-slow-walking-another-ruling-to-help-dems\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a> earlier this year in the court\u2019s landmark <em>Louisiana v. Callais<\/em> decision on race-based redistricting. Following the release of Hemingway\u2019s book, reports emerged that the liberal justices were delaying the release of their <em>Callais<\/em> dissent to seemingly hinder GOP-run states\u2019 ability to redistrict ahead of the midterm election cycle. <\/p>\n<p>Alito <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/05\/05\/jackson-accuses-scotus-of-partiality-she-and-her-fellow-liberal-justices-are-guilty-of\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">appeared to confirm<\/a> as much in an <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/05\/05\/alito-torches-jacksons-trivial-and-insulting-hot-take-on-supreme-courts-latest-callais-order\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">order<\/a> released days after <em>Callais<\/em>\u2019 eventual publication.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics and RealClearHealth. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Did liberals slow Trump mail-in voting rulings to delay 2026?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":2661713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Ketanji-Brown-Jackson.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[32319,33739,60149,32275,32570],"class_list":["post-2661712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-donald-trump","tag-election-law","tag-liberal-justices","tag-supreme-court","tag-voting-rights"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Ketanji-Brown-Jackson.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2661712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2661712"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2661712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2661721,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2661712\/revisions\/2661721"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2661713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2661712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2661712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2661712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}