President Trump took his fight over the conduct of the 2026 election to the Supreme Court again Thursday, asking the justices to erase a lower court blockade and allow the U.S. Postal Service to continue developing plans to refuse to deliver some mailed ballots.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer said the administration is trying to combat potential voter fraud, and giving the post office powers to police which ballots are mailed is part of that.
Under Mr. Trump’s vision, the post office would require states to submit lists of all valid voters, and the postal service would then refuse to deliver ballots to recipients not on the list.
A district judge in Massachusetts has issued a restraining order preventing the post office from carrying out those plans, saying they usurped the power to run elections from the states.
Time is crucial.
The first state is slated to mail ballots on Friday.
The high court, however, gave Mr. Trump’s opponents until next Tuesday to respond.
Mr. Sauer said if the high court doesn’t act soon, even if the administration eventually prevails in the case, states won’t be able to comply in time for this year’s election.
He said that could deprive their residents of the ability to vote by mail at all.
He said states maintain full control over deciding who is eligible to vote, and who should be sent a mailed ballot. The postal service’s interest is in managing the mail.
“The Postal Service will not perform any verification of voter eligibility; its role is limited to ensuring that envelopes comply with the rule’s design and informational requirements,” he wrote in his petition.
The president’s opponents say his plans are more nefarious.
Part of Mr. Trump’s original vision was to have Homeland Security vet the states’ lists of eligible voters to knock off noncitizens.
DHS has yet to finalize those plans, and it is not directly part of the ongoing challenge to the postal service scheme.
The Supreme Court has seen this case before.
Last month it overturned a previous injunction by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, with the majority saying she acted prematurely. At the time Judge Talwani first ruled, the post office hadn’t finalized its regulation.
The post office has since finished the rule, and Judge Talwani issued a restraining order.
She heard argument Thursday on whether to extend her blockade. She said she would issue her ruling quickly.
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