The Trump administration returned to the Supreme Court on Sunday, asking the justices to allow new U.S. Postal Service restrictions on mail ballots to take effect before the November midterm elections.
The emergency filing came two days after U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani issued a preliminary injunction preventing the Postal Service from implementing rules developed in response to President Donald Trump’s March executive order on federal elections.
“Ballots have already begun to be mailed in North Carolina, and more States will begin the mailing process as the injunction remains in place — including Alabama on September 9 and at least five States the week of September 13,” Solicitor General John Sauer said in the filing, per the Associated Press.
“Once those ballot envelopes enter the mailstream, there is no retrieving them,” the filing continued.
“And while the injunction allows the Postal Service and the States to continue taking steps to ensure that their envelopes satisfy the Rule’s requirements … each day the injunction is in place risks sowing confusion and chaos because the injunction makes those preparatory steps voluntary, rather than mandatory,” the filing added.
The new application was docketed Sunday as United States Postal Service v. California. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who handles emergency matters arising from the 1st Circuit, ordered opponents of the administration’s request to respond by 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 9.
It is the administration’s third attempt to revive the Postal Service rules.
The government withdrew an earlier emergency application filed Sept. 3 after Talwani replaced her temporary order with the broader preliminary injunction on Sept. 4. The administration then immediately filed a new request asking the Supreme Court to stay that latest ruling.
At issue are provisions stemming from an executive order Trump signed March 31 directing the Postal Service to establish new procedures for absentee and mail voting in federal elections.
Among other provisions, the order directed USPS to develop requirements for ballot envelopes to carry Official Election Mail markings and unique Intelligent Mail barcodes capable of tracking individual pieces of election mail.
It also called for states participating in the system to provide the Postal Service with lists of voters receiving mail ballots.
Under the resulting rule, states would have to provide information about mail-ballot recipients and use approved envelopes containing unique barcodes.
The Postal Service could decline to transmit ballots that do not comply with the new system.
The administration argues the measures fall within the Postal Service’s authority to regulate the mail and would provide a more secure and traceable system for handling election materials.
Trump’s executive order said unique ballot-envelope identifiers could help officials confirm eligibility, track election mail and investigate suspected misuse of the postal system.
A coalition of Democratic-led states and voting-rights organizations has argued that the administration is attempting to use the Postal Service to impose election requirements that Congress never authorized.
They contend that the Constitution gives states primary responsibility for administering elections, subject to congressional regulation, and that the executive branch cannot independently impose new eligibility or ballot-handling rules through postal regulations.
Talwani cited those legal questions in blocking implementation while the case proceeds.
She also pointed to the timing, concluding that requiring election officials across thousands of jurisdictions to redesign procedures shortly before voting begins could create substantial administrative problems and potentially prevent otherwise eligible voters from successfully casting mail ballots.
The administration argues that leaving the injunction in place could create problems of its own.
