Supreme Court blocks Trump mail-in voting rules before midterms
The short version
The U.S. Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration from imposing new Postal Service rules on mail-in ballots ahead of the November 2026 midterm elections. President Donald Trump criticized the decision, but Attorney General Todd Blanche said the administration will comply.
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Trump administration's request to let the U.S. Postal Service enforce new mail-in voting rules ahead of the November midterm elections.5,1 The order was unsigned and kept existing postal voting rules in place.2,1 The proposed USPS rules would have required federal ballot mail to be sent in envelopes bearing an election-mail logo, capable of being scanned by high-speed equipment, and carrying a barcode unique to each voter.1
State and local election officials would also have been required to submit envelope designs to the Postal Service for review and upload basic voter information to an online USPS portal.1 Mailings that failed to comply would not have been accepted and would have been returned to election officials to correct and resubmit.1 Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote a concurring opinion saying there is at least a fair prospect that the final rule falls within the Postal Service's statutory authority.1
Kavanaugh nevertheless argued that applying the rule in the 2026 elections would be arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act because state and local election officials do not have sufficient time to reasonably implement it before the elections.1 Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented from the order.1 President Donald Trump called the ruling a big loss for Republicans and Americans and said it would make cheating easier.7,1
Trump wrote that Republicans got a bad decision from the Supreme Court and called the mail-in voting system a laughing stock all over the world.1 Trump praised Alito and Thomas as legends.1 Attorney General Todd Blanche said Trump is very frustrated with the Supreme Court justices over the mail ballot ruling and has every right to voice his concerns.6,3
Blanche said the administration will comply with the Supreme Court's decision.8,5 Blanche said the ruling will not impact other efforts to combat voter fraud.6 A Brookings Institute analysis found four cases of mail voter fraud for every 10 million ballots cast in 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022.7
“Republicans just got another bad decision from the United States Supreme Court, one that 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, and where we are the only country that has to endure such a Nation Destroying SCAM”
“In my view, based on the briefing the Court has received at this interim stage, there is at least a fair prospect that the final rule falls within the Postal Service's statutory authority”
Why it matters
The November 2026 midterm elections will determine control of Congress and are less than two months away, which Kavanaugh cited as the reason state and local officials lack time to implement the new USPS rules.4,1
The White House had warned of widespread fraud in the midterm elections unless the Postal Service enforced the restrictions.8
Trump has previously criticized the Supreme Court over other rulings, including decisions to strike down his tariff policies and void his executive order ending birthright citizenship.1
This account was written from the 8 reports listed below, filed by 6 independent outlets, and checked against them line by line. It is not a copy of any one of them. Spotted an error? Tell us.
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