WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court declined on Monday to allow the U.S. Postal Service to enforce new restrictions on mail-in ballots sought by the Trump administration, leaving existing voting procedures in place for the upcoming midterm elections.
In a brief unsigned order, the majority said the government was unlikely to succeed on the merits of its challenge to a lower-court injunction and that the equitable factors did not favor emergency relief. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote a short concurrence agreeing that the rule should not take effect for the 2026 elections because state and local election officials lack sufficient time to implement it reasonably. He noted there may be a fair prospect the rule falls within Postal Service authority in other circumstances.
The administration’s plan would have required states to share voter lists with the Postal Service and imposed additional verification steps that critics said could disrupt delivery of millions of ballots. Voting by mail has already begun in several states.
President Trump has long criticized mail voting and framed the restrictions as necessary for election integrity. The court’s action preserves the status quo under which roughly one-third of voters have used mail ballots in recent national elections.
The Supreme Court left in place a lower-court order blocking new Postal Service mail-ballot rules for the midterms. Alito and Thomas dissented; Kavanaugh concurred on timing grounds.
Reporting based on the Supreme Court order and contemporaneous coverage on September 14-15, 2026.
Related news update.
