Democrats and Advocacy Groups Fight Trump's Mail Voting Restrictions After Supreme Court Ruling

Democratic leaders and voting rights advocates on Tuesday announced new legal challenges to President Donald Trump's executive order targeting mail-in voting, following a Supreme Court decision that critics say paves the way for potential disenfranchisement.

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Monday that states challenging Trump's order had not shown sufficient legal standing to seek an injunction. The decision temporarily lifts a lower court's block on the order while litigation continues. The order directs the Department of Homeland Security to compile voter eligibility lists and requires states to share voter information with the federal government. The U.S. Postal Service published its final rule implementing these changes last week.

In response, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Representative Suzan DelBene filed a motion Tuesday seeking a new preliminary injunction against the order. The motion argues that federal courts—not the executive branch—have authority over elections.

"Yesterday's Supreme Court ruling did not say that Trump's executive order attacking voting rights is constitutional," the Democratic leaders stated. "Rather, the majority simply said that the states had sued prematurely, as federal efforts to respond to Trump's order were still underway."

The Campaign Legal Center and Democracy Defenders Fund filed a separate complaint Tuesday on behalf of voting rights groups and local governments in Arizona, Wisconsin and Texas. The complaint challenges the USPS rule implementing the order, arguing it violates constitutional voting rights protections.

"Key provisions of the president's second executive order on elections have already been declared unlawful in multiple federal cases," said Anna Baldwin, director of voting rights litigation at the Campaign Legal Center. "But the US Supreme Court's recent order on the shadow docket has given USPS the green light to attempt to implement their new mail voting rules—mere weeks before mail ballots start to be sent out in some parts of the country."

The Postal Service's new rule requires employees to determine voter eligibility for mail ballots, a provision critics say unfairly shifts election administration to postal workers. Tianna Mays, legal director of the Democracy Defenders Fund, called the rule "a reckless power grab" that would create confusion and disenfranchise voters.

In Massachusetts, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration violated her previous injunction by finalizing the Postal Service's rule, though she took no immediate action. The League of Women Voters Massachusetts vowed to continue fighting the order despite the Supreme Court's interim ruling.

Legal challenges surrounding the order are unfolding as midterm elections approach, with some states already sending out mail ballots. Voting rights advocates say the order's implementation threatens to disrupt election administration weeks before November's vote.