Trump asks SCOTUS to allow mail-in voting order for midterms

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to clear the way for his executive order to further restrict mail-in voting. If upheld by the Supreme Court, the order could affect November's midterm elections. U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the high court to temporarily freeze a lower court’s ruling against President Donald Trump’s order.

The White House has been appealing the federal court ruling that, in June, sided with a challenge brought by a group of states. But there is a pressing need for the high court to step in while that underlying lawsuit plays out, Sauer said. He argued that new policies would have to be put in place soon and asked for the Supreme Court to file a response by Monday, Aug. 3.

How exactly does the order affect mail-in voting? Trump’s order would require the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the commissioner of the Social Security Administration to create a state citizenship list of eligible voters. The U.S. Postal Service would then deliver mail ballots only to people on that list. States could lose federal funding if they don’t comply with the order. When Trump signed the order in March, he touted the list as a way to prevent noncitizens from voting.

How did the case get here? A group of 23 states and the District of Columbia challenged the order in a federal district court in Massachusetts. They argued that the states and Congress, not the president, have the authority to set election rules. The district court agreed and issued an order in June barring the federal government from implementing the state citizenship list. On Saturday, a divided panel from the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Trump administration’s request to intervene.

Dig deeper: Read Christina Grube’s report on Trump’s remarks about election fraud and foreign interference in his latest national address.