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The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to move forward, for now, with plans to restrict mail-in voting ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, handing the White House a significant legal victory while leaving the ultimate fate of the policy unresolved.
The divided court issued an unsigned emergency order lifting a lower-court freeze on President Donald Trump’s executive order directing federal agencies to play a larger role in determining which voters can receive mail-in ballots. The administration also plans to create federal citizenship lists that could be used to help states identify and remove alleged noncitizens from voter registration rolls.
The ruling does not determine whether Trump’s executive order is ultimately constitutional. The justices explicitly said the decision was preliminary and that the administration had shown it was “likely to suffer irreparable harm” if prevented from moving forward with its plans.
With the midterm elections just over two months away, the decision could set up a rapid series of new legal battles over how the policy is implemented and whether it can take effect before voting begins.
Supreme Court leaves legality unresolved
The Supreme Court’s order focused largely on whether lower courts should have blocked the administration’s plans before the new rules were fully implemented.
The majority said the states challenging Trump’s order had not demonstrated sufficient harm from election rules that had not yet taken effect.
But the justices emphasized that Monday’s decision was not a final ruling on the legality of the executive order.
“Time will tell,” the majority wrote.
The court’s three liberal justices dissented.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson warned that the decision could create confusion ahead of an election in which control of the House and Senate will be at stake.
She said the ruling “needlessly injects chaos and uncertainty into the upcoming midterm elections.”
Trump order targets mail-in voting
Trump signed the executive order in March as part of his broader campaign to restrict voting by mail.
The order directs federal agencies to create lists of people who will be at least 18 years old on Election Day and identify those believed to be U.S. citizens. Federal officials would then provide the information to state election officials for use in reviewing voter registration rolls.
The order also directs the U.S. Postal Service to withhold mail ballots from voters whose names are not included on an approved list.
The administration has argued that the measures are necessary to prevent noncitizens from voting and strengthen election integrity.
Opponents argue that the Constitution gives Congress and the states—not the president—authority over elections and that the executive branch cannot unilaterally impose such restrictions.
Lower courts had blocked the policy
The Supreme Court’s action follows months of litigation over Trump’s order.
In June, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Massachusetts temporarily blocked the administration from implementing the policy. She concluded that the order violated separation-of-powers principles and that Congress had not authorized the Postal Service to determine which voters should receive mail ballots.
Talwani later issued a broader ruling blocking enforcement of the order for the 2026 midterm elections.
She also rejected the administration’s assertions about widespread absentee-ballot fraud, noting that the government had not provided sufficient “evidentiary support of illegal or fraudulent absentee voting.”
A federal appeals court subsequently upheld the initial injunction, prompting the Trump administration to ask the Supreme Court to intervene.
Democrats vow to continue legal fight
New York Attorney General Letitia James called the Supreme Court’s decision a setback but said the ruling would not end the legal battle.
“The right to vote is sacred,” James said, arguing that no administration should be permitted to make it harder for eligible voters to cast ballots.
The Democratic state attorneys general challenging the order have warned that implementing the policy could create confusion and disenfranchise voters shortly before the election.
In filings before the Supreme Court, they argued that the administration was attempting to establish an unprecedented federal voter-verification and ballot-interception system without congressional authorization.
They also warned that errors in federal citizenship lists could prevent eligible voters from receiving ballots, leaving little time for those voters to challenge the government’s determinations.
Election timing adds urgency
The timing of Monday’s ruling could prove critical.
Many states begin absentee and early voting weeks before Election Day, leaving the administration a narrow window to develop and implement the new procedures.
The Supreme Court’s ruling allows the administration to continue preparing the policy, but separate injunctions and additional litigation could still prevent some provisions from taking effect.
That means the fight over Trump’s mail-voting order is likely to return to court as the midterms approach.
The dispute could ultimately determine whether the federal government gains unprecedented influence over how Americans receive mail-in ballots—or whether Trump’s effort to reshape absentee voting is blocked before it reaches voters.
