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 last week blocked those restrictions.
Lawyers for the Trump administration filed an emergency application to the nation’s highest court to allow the U.S. 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.
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.
