Appeals Courts Split Over Trump's Mail-In Voting Order, Teeing Up a Supreme Court Fight
Dueling federal appellate rulings within days of each other left the fate of the president's vote-by-mail executive order in the Supreme Court's hands, months before the November midterms.
A pair of conflicting federal appeals-court rulings has left President Trump's executive order restricting mail-in voting in legal limbo, all but guaranteeing that the Supreme Court will have the final say before November's midterm elections.
Over the weekend, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower-court ruling that blocked the order in nearly half the states, siding with a coalition of 23 states that had sued. Days later, on Tuesday, a separate appeals panel reached the opposite conclusion, ruling that the administration could continue implementing the policy.
What the order does
The executive order directs federal agencies to help assemble a state-by-state list of citizens eligible to vote and to tighten the delivery of mail ballots. Supporters frame it as an election-integrity measure; opponents argue it oversteps federal authority over elections, which the Constitution largely leaves to the states.
Headed to the justices
With appellate courts now openly split, the Trump administration has already urged the Supreme Court to allow the order to take effect. The competing rulings sharpen the pressure on the justices, who face a compressed calendar if any changes are to be settled before ballots go out this fall.
Election administrators across the country are watching closely. A last-minute change to mail-ballot rules would ripple through the preparations already under way in county election offices, from printing to voter notifications. For now, the rules a voter faces may depend on which circuit they live in — an uncertainty the high court is being asked to resolve quickly.
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