Overview
- The Justice Department filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court on Monday asking justices to lift a lower-court injunction so the March executive order can be enforced for the November midterms.
- Federal appeals courts have split: the 1st Circuit upheld a Massachusetts judge’s injunction keeping the order blocked for 23 plaintiff states, while a D.C. Circuit panel ruled a separate challenge was premature, leaving a patchwork legal picture.
- The executive order directs DHS and SSA to compile voter or absentee lists and tells USPS to deliver ballots only to people on those lists and to use serialized, trackable envelopes.
- The American Postal Workers Union says USPS IT staff are quietly building a portal tied to the plan, but USPS is declining public comment, creating practical uncertainty for election officials who must decide how to prepare.
- With less than 100 days until the midterms and a tight Supreme Court briefing schedule with responses due Aug. 3, the high court’s decision could determine whether mail-vote rules are uniform nationwide or vary by jurisdiction and affect millions of voters.