The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to enforce restrictions on mail-in voting, a lifeline for millions of voters of color. The decision comes in the midst of a pivotal midterm election as voters across the country decide control of Congress– and as voting-rights advocates warn that restrictions on mail-in voting could disenfranchise communities of color in several key states.
The decision follows an order from a Trump-appointed federal judge who late Sunday said that the U.S. Postal Service should not follow through on implementing the executive order. An appeals court last week also upheld a lower court’s ruling that blocked President Trump’s executive order.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, in her opinion on Monday, wrote that “The Government is unlikely to succeed on the merits of its challenge to the District Court’s preliminary injunction. And the equitable factors applicable for obtaining emergency relief from this Court do not favor a stay.”
Concurring with Jackson in the opinion, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote, in part, “…state and local election officials do not have sufficient time to reasonably implement the rule before the elections.”
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented, writing, “The Government will suffer irreparable harm absent relief.”
As The Emancipator previously reported, last month the conservative majority high court also paused a lower court’s ruling that blocked President Trump’s executive order calling for the Homeland Security secretary, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Social Security Administration commissioner to compile a federal citizenship list to determine citizens eligible to vote. The executive order also directs the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to people on the lists.
Civil rights groups and voting rights groups applauded Monday’s Supreme Court’s decision. NAACP General Counsel Kristen Clarke called the ruling “a big victory for voters this midterm election season.”
“Mail voting is safe, secure, and deeply rooted in our nation’s history,” Clarke said in a statement. “The Court’s decision preserves a critical pathway to the ballot box and reaffirms that our democracy works best when every eligible voter can participate.”
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