WASHINGTON—The Trump administration’s bid to deploy the U.S. Postal Service to regulate mail-in ballots is back at the Supreme Court for the second time in as many weeks.
In an emergency appeal on Thursday, the administration asked the high court to allow it to immediately implement proposed rules that would require states to hand over voter data and would give the Postal Service power to reject mail ballots that don’t comply with new conditions.
The rules have been blocked by
WASHINGTON—The Trump administration’s bid to deploy the U.S. Postal Service to regulate mail-in ballots is back at the Supreme Court for the second time in as many weeks.
In an emergency appeal on Thursday, the administration asked the high court to allow it to immediately implement proposed rules that would require states to hand over voter data and would give the Postal Service power to reject mail ballots that don’t comply with new conditions.
The rules have been blocked by a federal district judge who found they are likely unconstitutional.
Time is running short for the administration to fully implement the rules before the Nov. 3 midterms. North Carolina is scheduled to begin sending mail ballots to voters Friday, and other states will soon follow.
“Once those ballot envelopes enter the mailstream, there is no retrieving them,” Solicitor General John Sauer wrote, urging the Supreme Court to quickly lift the district judge’s block.
The Supreme Court ordered the groups challenging the Postal Service rules to file a response by Tuesday morning, effectively guaranteeing that the justices won’t resolve the appeal before then.
The appeal is the latest phase in a complex and fast-moving fight stemming from a March 31 executive order that President Trump issued on mail voting. Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that a challenge to the executive order was premature because the Postal Service hadn’t yet enacted any of the policies that the executive order directed.
Around the time of that ruling, the Postal Service issued its 95-page regulation, saying it intended to enforce it during the midterms. The regulation mandates that ballot envelopes include individualized bar codes and other design features. It also says that states, as a condition of sending ballots to voters through the mail, must get their ballots approved by the Postal Service and upload information about all voters who will receive mail ballots into a federal database.
The Trump administration says the new rules are critical to protect the integrity of the midterms. Trump has repeatedly contended that mail voting is rife with fraud. Studies haven’t shown evidence of widespread fraud. States and voting-rights groups say the proposed postal rules would create mass confusion on the eve of the election and could disenfranchise many eligible voters.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee, issued a temporary restraining order last week blocking the Postal Service from enforcing most of the regulation. She said the rules appear to exceed the agency’s authority because the Constitution authorizes states to manage elections, with oversight from Congress. Congress hasn’t passed any law, she wrote, that “would permit the USPS to regulate election mail.”
Talwani’s restraining order is scheduled to expire on Sept. 10, and she is considering whether to issue a longer-term block. The matter is also pending before a federal appeals court, but that court hadn’t ruled before the Trump administration filed its latest appeal to the Supreme Court.
Write to James Romoser at james.romoser@wsj.com
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