DOJ turns to Supreme Court in battle over Postal Service mail-ballot rules

The Justice Department has asked the Supreme Court to step into a dispute over mail-ballot rules just weeks before the November midterm elections.

In an emergency appeal, Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the justices to halt a temporary order from U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani that blocks the U.S. Postal Service from enforcing the requirements. The order is due to remain in place for several more days. The Justice Department has already appealed, but the appeals court has not yet ruled.

Talwani is also weighing a request from two dozen Democratic-led states and voting-rights groups for a preliminary injunction. She held a hearing Thursday on that request. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who handles emergency appeals from the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, has asked the states to respond to the Trump administration’s Supreme Court filing by Tuesday morning.

“

Imposes only modest envelope-design and addressee-information requirements for federal-election ballots sent

Sauer described the rule as imposing “only modest envelope-design and addressee-information requirements for federal-election ballots sent.” He argued that “the Rule’s regulation of the U.S. Mail, not federal elections, is plainly constitutional.”

The solicitor general said states have primary authority over how elections are conducted, but cannot use the federal mail system while claiming that election-related mail is exempt from Postal Service rulemaking authority granted by Congress. The dispute remains unresolved as the courts consider whether the requirements can take effect.

“

The Rule’s regulation of the U.S. Mail, not federal elections, is plainly constitutional