Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Stay Boston Judge’s Order Blocking Mail-In Voting Restrictions

The Trump administration on Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to put a hold on a federal district court decision issued Tuesday in Boston that expanded a block on key provisions of President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting mail-in ballots.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani’s Tuesday ruling prevents the U.S. Postal Service from enforcing nationwide the tighter rules contained in the March executive order. The order directed the Postal Service to deliver election ballots only to voters appearing on each state’s approved list of eligible voters, instructed the Department of Homeland Security to help compile those lists, and called for the Justice Department to prioritize investigations of election officials who issue ballots to ineligible persons.

Talwani’s latest decision builds on her earlier June ruling, which had already barred enforcement of the order in 23 states and the District of Columbia, most of them under Democratic control. In both decisions, the judge concluded that the federal government lacks authority under the Constitution to impose such uniform rules on the conduct of elections, a power reserved primarily to the states.

In its emergency application to the Supreme Court, the Justice Department asked the justices to stay both the June and Tuesday orders. Administration lawyers argued that the lawsuits brought by voting-rights groups and represented by the ACLU are premature because federal agencies have not yet taken concrete steps that would cause the plaintiffs concrete harm. They contended that any claimed injury remains speculative and that the lower-court injunctions improperly interfere with the executive branch’s ability to implement the president’s directive ahead of the November midterm elections.

The administration had previously sought Supreme Court intervention regarding the June ruling. The latest request seeks a nationwide pause so that the Postal Service and other agencies can proceed with the executive order’s requirements while the underlying legal challenges continue.

Trump has long criticized expansive mail-in voting practices, arguing they create opportunities for fraud and undermine election integrity. The executive order represented one of several administration efforts to tighten federal involvement in ballot delivery and eligibility verification. Voting-rights organizations that sued contend the order exceeds presidential authority and risks disenfranchising eligible voters.

The Supreme Court has not yet indicated when or how it will respond to the administration’s application. The dispute forms part of a broader series of legal battles over the scope of federal power in election administration heading into the midterms.