Less that 45 days out from the 2026 Midterm Elections the High Court turned thumbs down on Donald Trump’s effort to hold up to 1/3 of the nations votes from being counted…..
The Supreme ‘s, minus Alito and Thomas , it seems just wasn’t entertaining a President trying to derail ANOTHER election….
The vast majority of Federal judges handling actions against TRump’s efforts had rolled against the hurried executive order to the Post Office to screen and NOT deliver ballots….
The applause for the ruling was shared by some Republican election officals also….
The Supreme Court on Monday blocked a Trump administration plan to dramatically change how Americans vote by mail in the lead-up to the midterm elections, a major loss for President Trump, who has long claimed without evidence that fraud is rampant in mail voting.
The ruling was a resounding win for Democratic-led states and voting rights groups, which had argued that the plan was unconstitutional and an existential threat to the democratic process.
The Trump administration’s efforts, they had said, would introduce chaos and confusion as early voting gears up in many states.
Still, the weekslong legal tussle over the issue may have sown its own kind of confusion, a victory of sorts for Mr. Trump as he seeks to cast doubt on the integrity of the vote in an election his party might lose.
In a one-paragraph explanation, the court’s majority wrote that the government was “unlikely to succeed on the merits” at the conclusion of additional litigation on the issue.
The majority’s order was unsigned, which is typical in emergency rulings. It gave no vote count.
Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, one of the court’s conservatives, wrote a one-paragraph concurrence. Writing for himself alone, he said that there was “at least a fair prospect” that new mail ballot rules issued by the Postal Service fell within its purview under federal statutes, but that allowing those changes so close to the midterms “would be arbitrary and capricious.” State and local elections officials, he wrote, would not have “sufficient time to reasonably implement” the changes.
In an eight-page dissent, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, wrote that he would have allowed the Trump administration plan to go into effect for the midterms. Justice Alito called the legal challenge a “Hail Mary” pass that was unlikely to succeed and that he believed the administration would ultimately win the case because the Postal Service has “broad authority to regulate the mail.”
“Today is a good day for democracy, the rule of law, and the American people looking to exercise their Constitutional right to vote,” said Governor Gavin Newsom of California, one of the Democratic-led states that challenged the Trump administration’s plan. “Finally, fifty days out, and the American people have certainty when it comes to our country’s electoral process: Voting is safe, vote-by-mail is accessible to any and all who need it.”
The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented voting rights organizations in the case, celebrated the court’s decision.
“The president does not run our elections, the Postal Service does not get to decide whose ballot counts, and voters — not the White House — will decide November’s elections,” Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, said in a statement.
Even some Republican election officials cheered the ruling.
Ricky Hatch, the Republican clerk in Weber County, Utah, said he felt “relief.” Utah almost exclusively votes by mail, and Mr. Hatch had been preparing a contingency plan to abandon mail voting if the Supreme Court allowed the Postal Service to restrict the practice….
The NY Times on other efforts by Trump and Co. to influence the midterm voting….
“This is far from over,” said Benjamin Hovland, who was ousted from the independent, bipartisan Election Assistance Commissionby the Trump administration this year.
Mr. Hovland acknowledged that the Supreme Court’s decision mitigated “real-world impact” on voters and election workers, particularly since voters in some states have already begun to mail in their ballots. But he said Mr. Trump’s actions were alarming.
“What you’re seeing is using the apparatus of government, using federal agencies, using taxpayer dollars, to push that narrative that only undermines confidence in our democracy and ultimately hurts voters and election officials,” Mr. Hovland said.
Mr. Trump argues that he is trying to secure the integrity of the vote, but his claims of widespread fraud in the election system have been investigated and debunked repeatedly, and critics say his actions needlessly sow doubt about the outcome of the vote….
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The Supreme Court’s decision on Monday did, however, add to a string of mounting losses for Mr. Trump, who said this year that he wanted to “take over” and nationalize elections. Even before the Supreme Court decision, two lower court judges ruled that Mr. Trump’s changes to mail-in balloting were most likely illegal and should not be imposed so close to the November elections….
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In addition to the loss on Monday, Mr. Trump’s other attempts to pressure states over the election process have faced legal setbacks.
The Justice Department has sued 30 states for unredacted voter lists, which include personal information like driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.
They have lost 23 of those cases. Decisions are pending in the rest.
The federal actions, as well as the various court decisions, have caused alarm among local election officials and voters, according to election experts….
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Mr. Trump has also gutted the government’s election security infrastructure. Experts warn that his cuts to agencies tasked with coordinating election security with state governments could reduce visibility into foreign influence campaigns and cyberattacks.
Mr. Brace said all the executive actions have fueled pressure on local election officials…..
BTW?
With 50 days before the election, the mood in the country is set with voting already underway in
North Carolina. An additional 16 states will begin sending out ballots by the end of the month.
In-person voting begins in four states by the end of this week and in 11 states local officials are allowed to begin early in-person voting 30 days before Election Day.