The US Supreme Court on Monday (24) allowed President Donald Trump's administration to move ahead with an executive order restricting mail-in voting, a little over two months before the November 3 midterm elections that will decide control of Congress. In an emergency ruling, the justices suspended an injunction by federal judge Indira Talwani of Boston that since June had blocked the directive in 23 states and in Washington, DC, according to reports by Folha de S.Paulo and InfoMoney.

The decision was unsigned, as is common in emergency orders. The court's 6-to-3 conservative majority accepted the Justice Department's argument that the government would "likely suffer irreparable harm" if the stay were not granted. The three liberal justices dissented, and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson warned that the majority "needlessly injects chaos and uncertainty" into the upcoming midterms.

What the order says

Signed by Trump in March, the order directs the Department of Homeland Security to compile lists of citizens eligible to vote in each state and tells the Justice Department to prioritize investigating election officials who issue ballots to people deemed ineligible. It also requires the US Postal Service to deliver ballots only to voters on each state's approved mail-in voting list.

In June, Talwani ruled that the president had no authority to order changes in how states run federal elections, noting that the US Constitution leaves voter eligibility rules to the states. She also found that federal agencies lack the capacity to compile accurate lists of citizens. The suing states, most of them governed by Democrats, argued that the rushed change so close to the election risked disenfranchising "a substantial number of voters".

Despite Trump's win, the practical reach of the ruling remains limited. The court did not address a second Talwani injunction, issued on August 11 in a separate case brought by voting rights groups, which still bars the Postal Service from enforcing the stricter rules nationwide. With early voting about to begin in several states, it is unclear whether the White House rules will be in force on election day.

The order is part of Trump's broader push to change US election rules. The president has long questioned the security of mail ballots and made false claims of widespread fraud, including about his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden, even though evidence of election fraud in the country is rare. He is also pressing the Republican-controlled Congress to pass a package of voting restrictions known as the SAVE America Act. Restricting mail voting is expected to benefit Republicans, since Democratic voters have historically been more likely to vote by mail.