President Donald Trump’s administration has asked the US Supreme Court to allow nationwide implementation of his executive order aimed at tightening rules for mail-in voting ahead of the November midterm elections that will decide control of Congress.
In a filing, the Justice Department requested on Monday that the justices put on hold a judge’s ruling preventing the enforcement of the Republican president’s directive in 23 mostly Democratic-governed states and Washington DC, which had challenged the order as unconstitutional, while the litigation plays out.
US District Judge Indira Talwani rejected the administration’s argument that the states lacked the necessary legal standing to challenge Trump’s directive.
In June, Talwani ruled that the president lacked the authority to order changes in how states administer federal elections, noting that under the US Constitution, states have the role of determining voter-eligibility requirements.
Trump, who has argued that there is widespread fraud in US elections, including the 2020 election won by the Democrats, has pressed the Republican-controlled Congress to pass a package of voting restrictions called the SAVE America Act.
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Trump’s executive order directed the Department of Homeland Security to compile and transmit to the states a list of US citizens eligible to vote in each state, and the Justice Department to prioritise investigating and prosecuting state and local election officials who issue ballots to people deemed “not eligible” to vote in federal elections.
