The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to clear the way for an executive order that could change mail-in voting ahead of November’s midterm elections. The Department of Justice asked the justices to halt a lower court decisions blocking the sweeping changes in nearly half the country.
This past March, President Trump ordered the government to create a “state citizenship list” of eligible voters and deliver mail ballots only to people on that list.
Democrat officials in 23 states and the District of Columbia sued, stating the Constitution gives states and Congress, not the president.
The executive order called for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the commissioner of the Social Security Administration to send state officials federal citizenship lists to determine eligible voters and for the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to people on the lists. Democratic officials in 23 states and the District of Columbia sued, saying the Constitution only gives states and Congress the authority to set election rules, not the president. A judge in Massachusetts blocked the executive order for the plaintiff states, and a divided 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel left the ruling in place. Mail balloting has been a Trump target, even though he himself uses the method to vote. A favorite target for Trump, even as he has used the method to cast his own votes.
Using mail ballots is used by voters of both parties, with about 30% of all 2024 ballots cast by that method according to federal data. A 2025 Brookings Institution study found only about four cases of fraud out of every 10 million mail ballots cast.
Concerning mail-in ballots, the Supreme Court previously ruled against the Trump administration in June and said states can count ballots that arrive after Election Day.