Dorothy

The court granted the Trump administration’s request to stay a lower-court injunction that had blocked implementation of portions of President Donald Trump’s March executive order in 23 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia.

In its per curiam ruling, the high court granted the Trump administration’s emergency application to stay a June ruling by Massachusetts-based District Judge Indira Talwani. The Obama appointee and past Democrat donor issued an injunction barring the order from taking effect ahead of the 2026 midterms in the states that challenged the directive.

In June, Talwani issued an earlier ruling that blocked key parts of Trump's order in the 23 mainly Democratic-led states, plus Washington, D.C., that sued the administration.

Trump — who himself voted by mail as recently as this year in Florida — has said he issued this order to stop illegal voting by non-U.S. citizens in federal elections, which research has found to be infinitesimally rare.

Talwani's June ruling concluded Trump overstepped a president's authority under the Constitution, which gives power to state legislatures and Congress to set federal election rules. USPS, which is independent of a president's administration, also has no legal authority to control mail-in voting, the judge found.

“The Court’s disposition of this application does not mean that any measure taken by the Government to implement the Order will necessarily be lawful. On that score, time will tell,” the majority wrote in an unsigned order.

The majority went on to note that its ruling on the administration’s application “does not mean that any measure taken by the Government to implement the Order will necessarily be lawful.” While “time will tell” on that point, the justices affirmed that “the Order itself does not harm the States, so the District Court lacked jurisdiction to bar the Government from trying to implement it.”

"The Court does a disservice to all concerned by distorting Article III standing and ripeness principles to issue a ruling that contributes to pre-election chaos instead of quashing it," she wrote.

The Postal Service outlined plans last week for implementing portions of the order, according to The Associated Press, though the approaching election calendar could limit how much can take effect before November. North Carolina is scheduled to begin sending ballots to military and overseas voters Sept. 4, with other states following soon afterward.