The Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump a legal victory on mail-in voting, lifting a key hurdle to his executive order just 70 days before the midterm elections — a decision that is already drawing sharp reactions from both parties.
In a 6-3 ruling, the court said the states that previously sued to block Trump's mail-in ballot executive order lacked standing when they filed their lawsuits, allowing the order to move forward for now.
"Without concrete harm, there is no standing," the conservative justices wrote.
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The ruling, however, does not settle the broader legal fight. The justices were explicit that they did not rule on the overall legality of Trump's March directive, writing that their order "does not mean that any measure taken by the Government to implement the Order will necessarily be lawful. On that score, time will tell."
Trump's directive instructs states to provide the Postal Service with lists of eligible voters. The Postal Service would then only be allowed to deliver ballots to those individuals. The Department of Homeland Security would also create new citizen lists under the order.
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The Supreme Court's three liberal-leaning justices dissented from the order, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson saying the decision "needlessly injects chaos and uncertainty in the upcoming midterm elections."
The ruling comes as nearly 1/3 of all eligible voters in the U.S. cast ballots by mail during the 2024 election cycle.
Democrats are vowing to continue challenging the executive order. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said California will sue again to block it. Republicans, meanwhile, praised the court's decision. Sen. Mike Lee of Utah called Trump's executive order a "giant leap forward in securing our 2026 elections."
