Overview
- The administration filed an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday asking justices to lift lower-court injunctions that stopped the March executive order from taking effect.
- A federal district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit blocked the order for 23 states and the District of Columbia, noting the U.S. Postal Service cannot apply the rule in some states without applying it nationwide.
- The order would require states to give the Postal Service lists of citizens eligible for mail ballots, add individualized barcode envelopes, and direct the Department of Homeland Security to supply federal eligibility lists to states.
- The government acknowledged its citizenship databases are incomplete and prone to false positives, which courts and election officials say could wrongly remove eligible voters or deny them mailed ballots; reporting also notes isolated findings such as roughly 400 improper ballots in New Jersey while broader studies find improper voting is very rare.
- The case has split states and officials—23 states and D.C. sued to block the policy while several Republican-led states intervened to defend it—and the Supreme Court has set a fast briefing schedule with a response due on August 3, making a ruling before the November midterms possible.