Trump asks Supreme Court to OK sweeping changes for mail ballots

By John Fritze, Tierney Sneed, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump’s administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to give the US Postal Service sweeping power to withhold delivery of mail ballots, setting up an extraordinary showdown over voting at the high court less than two months before the November midterm election.

The emergency appeal, which leapfrogged lower courts still considering the case, is the culmination of a months-long legal fight over an executive order the president signed in March that gave federal agencies an unprecedented role in elections. Voter advocacy groups and a coalition of 23 Democratic-led states challenged that order in federal court, arguing that neither the president nor the post office should have a role in choosing which mail ballots reach voters.

With the midterm elections nearing, and the first ballots entering the mail this week, the 6-3 conservative Supreme Court will be under enormous pressure to decide the case on an unusually speedy timeline. The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to step in immediately with a short-term order that would allow the Postal Service to implement its new regulations.

The administration described its rules as “only modest envelope-design and addressee-information requirements.”

“The rule thus plainly does not seize control of states’ administration of elections,” the administration told the high court. “It simply imposes reasonable preparation requirements for certain election-related mail.”

Since the justices last reviewed the issue in August — siding with the Trump administration — the US Postal Service has provided more detail about how it intends to implement Trump’s order. Many election officials have warned that it’s already too late to upend their mail ballot systems. And a whistleblower report asserted that the USPS is rushing to complete a complicated plan that could potentially disenfranchise millions of Americans.

This story was updated with additional information.

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