President Trump attacks Supreme Court over mail-in ballot decision
President Donald Trump, on Tuesday, Sept. 15, condemned the Supreme Court after it rejected his plan to keep mail-in ballots for the upcoming midterm elections on hold.
The Trump administration had asked
the high court to let the U.S. Postal Service tighten the use of mail-in ballots. The president has pushed for greater federal control of elections, which are administered by states.
"The Court System took forever to give, and then blamed it, in part, on no time left to implement a solution to our totally CORRUPT and out of control Mail-In voting 'disaster,' which is a laughing stock all over the World," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Trump's condemnation came a day after the Supreme Court declined to let the Postal Service tighten the use of postal voting ahead of the November midterm elections that will decide control of Congress.
Two of the court's five conservative justices − Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. − dissented.
Mail ballots have already gone out to voters in some states.
“The Court’s inability and unwillingness to do the right thing for our Country will go down, in a very negative way, in the annals of History,” Trump wrote. "This Supreme Court is bullied and cajoled by the Radical Left into making decisions that have set America back at least a hundred years.”
Can you still vote by mail? How Supreme Court ruling impacts voters
How did the Supreme Court rule on mail-in ballots?
Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh, in a brief opinion agreeing with the court’s finding, wrote that allowing the Postal Service to make the changes Trump called for so soon before the midterm elections would be "arbitrary and capricious."
Under the controversial order Trump signed in March, states must give lists of verified voters to the Postal Service and use a specific design for ballot envelopes that includes unique voter barcodes. The Postal Service can refuse to deliver ballots that don't meet the new rules.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston put the changes on hold, ruling that they are likely unconstitutional and could be impossible to carry out in time for this year's elections.
The court's majority said the administration is unlikely to win its challenge to Talwani's ruling, and the potential harm in letting the changes proceed are greater than pausing them would be.
Kavanaugh wrote that while there is "at least a fair prospect" that the Postal Service has the authority to act, enforcing the president's rule on such short notice would be too difficult.
Contributing: Maureen Groppe and Michael Loria with USA TODAY
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.