Supreme Court sides with Trump administration on mail voting
restrictions ahead of midterms
[August 25, 2026]
By LINDSAY WHITEHURST and NICHOLAS RICCARDI
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court opened a path Monday for possible
implementation of President Donald Trump's executive order restricting
mail-in voting, though it remains unclear how much can be put in place
before the fast-approaching midterm elections.
The decision leaves room for additional court challenges that could
further slow Trump's order, and other similar cases have already been
filed. The U.S. Postal Service laid out how it would implement the order
last week, but time is running short to impose major changes. North
Carolina is sending out ballots Sept. 4 overseas and to military voters,
and other states will quickly follow suit in just a few weeks.
The Supreme Court's conservative majority didn’t decide the legality of
Trump's order, instead ruling that states who sued did not have the
legal right to challenge it.
While the emergency order is not final, it does have the potential to
create chaos around voting across the country, with Trump often
questioning the integrity of elections and the nation's highest court
again the possible arbiter of a political controversy.
“The Court’s disposition of this application does not mean that any
measure taken by the Government to implement the Order will necessarily
be lawful. On that score, time will tell,” the majority wrote in an
unsigned order.
The three liberal-leaning justices publicly dissented, with Justice
Ketanji Brown Jackson writing that the rule “lets another shoe drop in
the Kafkaesque nightmare that our precedents have been steadily creating
for certain plaintiffs who seek to bring election-related challenges.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James foreshadowed more legal fights
ahead, calling the decision a “painful setback” but vowing it would “not
be the final word.”
The court’s order opens a path for the administration to begin action to
restrict mail voting, but it also could lead to further litigation that
could freeze the federal government again.
“This is just the first inning of a very fast nine-inning game,” said
Derek Muller, a law professor at Notre Dame University.
Democrat-led states push back against Trump's order
Mail balloting has long been a favorite target for Trump, who has
claimed that it breeds fraud despite strong evidence to the contrary and
his own use of the voting method.
Trump's executive order, signed in March, calls on his administration to
create lists of eligible voters and orders the U.S. Postal Service to
deliver mail ballots only to people on those lists. New requirements
released Friday would forbid the Postal Service from sending mail
ballots from any state that does not comply with Trump’s order.
A Postal Service spokesperson did not immediately respond messages
seeking comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a
message seeking comment.
Democratic officials in 23 states and the District of Columbia sued to
block the order. They argued that the Constitution gives states and
Congress the power to run elections, and Trump’s changes could lead to
chaos and partisan abuse.
“The consequences of allowing such transformative changes to take effect
so close to this fall’s elections would be extreme,” attorneys for the
states wrote. Dozens of state and local election officials weighed in,
asking the justices to leave the order frozen while election
preparations are already underway.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Monday the order
was aimed at making it “harder for Americans to vote” in the pivotal
elections for control of Congress, and vowed that Democrats would "fight
every attempt to hijack mail-in voting and rig the rules before voters
have their say this November.”
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An election worker sorts vote-by-mail ballots at the Miami-Dade
County Supervisor of Elections Office for the Florida primary
election in Doral, Fla., Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Lynne
Sladky)
A judge in Massachusetts blocked the plan for the midterm elections
in those states. An appeals court upheld her decision. She later
granted a second order blocking it nationwide in a separate case,
another remaining stumbling block for the Trump administration,
which Monday night asked her to void or suspend it in light of the
Supreme Court ruling.
The Justice Department appealed to the Supreme Court on procedural
grounds in late July, arguing that the states sued too soon. They
also pointed to another ruling out of Washington, where a judge
allowed Trump’s order to proceed. An appeals court backed that
decision, while still leaving room for future court action if the
changes are implemented.
Federal attorneys argued that the Massachusetts order “blocks the
government’s ability to finalize and implement the President’s
proposed policies to promote election integrity for the upcoming
federal elections in November.”
A dozen Republican-leaning states supported the federal government
in their own appeal before the high court, saying states would have
input on the final voter lists.
Trump fights mail-in voting despite its growing popularity
The Supreme Court has previously ruled against Trump-backed
arguments on mail-in ballots, finding in a 5-4 decision that states
can count ballots that arrive after Election Day. That case was
decided after full briefing and arguments, rather than on the
court’s emergency docket.
Trump has blamed mail voting — without credible evidence — for his
loss to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. He has promoted the proposed
changes in his executive order as safeguards to keep non-U.S.
citizens from voting.
He’s also repeatedly pressed for the passage of the legislation that
requires proof of citizenship to vote. Noncitizen voting has been
shown to be exceedingly rare, and is a felony that can be punishable
by deportation.
Using mail ballots has become increasingly popular with voters of
both parties, with about 30% of all ballots cast that way during the
2024 presidential election, according to federal data. The process
also is secure. A 2025 Brookings Institution study found only about
four cases of fraud out of every 10 million mail ballots cast.
David Becker, a former justice department lawyer who co-wrote a book
debunking Trump’s 2020 election lies, said the high court created
“pure chaos leading up to the midterm elections, waiting weeks after
an administration filing, and just days before mail ballots go out,
to completely rewrite the rules.”
___
Riccardi reported from Denver. Associated Press writer John Hanna in
Topeka, Kansas contributed to this report.
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