US Justice Dept asks Supreme Court to restore Trump mail-in voting order

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration has asked the US Supreme Court to let federal officials move ahead with the president’s overhaul of mail-in voting ahead of the November midterm elections, after lower courts blocked implementation of the plan in nearly half the country.

The Justice Department filed an emergency request on July 27 asking the justices to immediately intervene in the dispute. A federal appeals court had ruled against the government over the weekend.

The administration is seeking to lift a Boston federal judge’s order that barred federal agencies from acting on key provisions of President Donald Trump’s March executive order in the jurisdictions that sued, including 23 states and the District of Columbia, in the months leading to the November contest.

The Justice Department contends that the lower court’s order was premature because agencies are still “deliberating” over how to carry out Trump’s order.

US Solicitor-General D. John Sauer argued in the application to the justices that officials should be allowed to complete the rule-making process, with enough time left to carry out those plans before the midterms.

“The district court has issued an extraordinary injunction barring federal agencies from implementing an executive order promoting election integrity,” Sauer wrote.

Spokespeople for the Justice Department and for the California attorney-general’s office, which is leading the coalition of states that sued, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Supreme Court requested a response by Aug 3 at 4pm.

The judge in Boston concluded that key sections of Trump’s order were unlawful and found the states that sued presented enough evidence they were already being harmed.

Her injunction was limited for now to the states that sued and only applies to the period before the midterms.

In a mixed decision over the weekend, a three-judge panel of the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the Justice Department’s request to pause the injunction.

Several other legal challenges are pending against the president’s directives, including a lawsuit brought by the Democratic National Committee and party leaders in Congress.

The president directed the Department of Homeland Security to prepare a list of potentially eligible US citizen voters as guidance for states.

He also ordered the US Postal Service to revamp the design of election mail and to adopt rules that would require states to coordinate with the agency on its lists of residents poised to receive mail-in ballots.

The states argued these provisions were unlawful and costly intrusions into their authority to manage elections. BLOOMBERG