Justices Alito, Thomas Dismiss Impacts Of Trump’s Mail Voting Overhaul Attempt In Dissent
Justice Samuel Alito dismissed the potential consequences of President Donald Trump’s last-minute attempt to overhaul mail voting ahead of the November midterms in his dissent to the Supreme Court’s Monday night ruling.
Trump’s March executive order called on the U.S. Postal Service to implement new rules for mail ballots, including individualized barcodes printed on all mail ballots and the submission of lists of mail voters to the federal government ahead of time. But some states have already mailed ballots to voters for the midterms.
A coalition of Democrat-led states sued to stop the effort because of the possibilities of widespread confusion and delays, as well as voters being “denied the ability to vote.” Opponents were also concerned about the potential cost to implement the order.
“No election office, at any level of government, has budgeted for the work the Rule requires,” a brief in the case from current and former GOP election officials stated.
On Monday night, the Supreme Court declined to lift a preliminary injunction blocking the implementation of Trump’s order.
“In my view, based on the briefing the Court has received at this interim stage, there is at least a fair prospect that the final rule falls within the Postal Service’s statutory authority,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in a brief concurrence. “But applying the rule in the 2026 elections would be arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act because state and local election officials do not have sufficient time to reasonably implement the rule before the elections.”
In his dissent, which was joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, Alito said it was important for the government to be able to “better detect election fraud.”
While Alito was concerned that the rule would be very difficult to implement so close to the election, he concluded that it was “not enough to convince me.”
Alito also blamed the states and the courts for the timing and argued that the USPS retains “broad authority to regulate the mail.”
Voter fraud is a rare issue that Trump and his allies relentlessly continue to claim, particularly with regard to the 2020 election that he lost to former President Joe Biden. However, he has not claimed any of the other elections Republicans won were “stolen.”
The midterm elections are scheduled for Nov. 3.