US Supreme Court sides with Trump administration on mail voting

By AP and Reuters. Published On 24 Aug 202624 Aug 2026.

Key points

• A 2025 Brookings Institution study discovered only concerning four cases of fraud out of every 10 million mail ballots cast.
• The Supreme Court has previously ruled against Trump-backed arguments on mail-in ballots, finding in June that states can count ballots that arrive after Election Day.
• Democratic authorities in 23 states and the District of Columbia sued to block the order.
• The Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court on procedural grounds in late July, arguing that the states sued too shortly.
• The decision on Monday appears to leave room for extra court challenges that could further slow Trump's order.

Though it remains unclear how much his administration can implement before the fast-approaching midterm elections in November, the United States Supreme Court has cleared the way for President Donald Trump to move ahead with his executive order restricting mail voting.

For context, the decision on Monday appears to leave room for extra court challenges that could further slow Trump's order. The court has a 6-3 conservative majority. The three liberal justices dissented from the decision.

Meanwhile, the US Postal Service laid out how it would implement the order last week, but time is running short to impose major changes with some states beginning to send mail ballots to voters in just a few weeks.

Voting by mail has long been a favourite target for Trump. This person has asserted that it breeds fraud despite robust evidence to the contrary and his own employ of the voting method.

Notably, the case could be one of multiple voting-related challenges before the justices. The US Justice Department had filed an emergency appeal asking the high court to allow work on implementing the changes before the midterms.

Trump's executive order, signed in March, calls on his administration to create lists of eligible voters and orders the US Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to individuals on those lists.

Democratic authorities in 23 states and the District of Columbia sued to block the order. They argued that the US Constitution gives states and Congress the power to run elections, and Trump's changes could lead to chaos and partisan abuse.

"The consequences of allowing such transformative changes to take effect so close to this fall's elections would be extreme, " lawyers for the states wrote. Dozens of state and local election authorities weighed in, asking the justices to leave the order frozen while election preparations are already underway.

Notably, a judge in the US state of Massachusetts blocked the plan for the midterm elections in those states. An appeals court upheld her decision. She afterwards granted a second order blocking it nationwide.

Notably, the Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court on procedural grounds in late July, arguing that the states sued too shortly. They additionally pointed to another ruling out of Washington, where a judge allowed Trump's order to proceed. While still leaving room for future court action if the changes are implemented, an appeals court backed that decision.

Federal attorneys argued that the Massachusetts order "blocks the government's ability to finalize and implement the President's proposed policies to promote election integrity for the upcoming federal elections in November."

Meanwhile, a dozen Republican-leaning states backed the federal administration in their own appeal before the high court, saying states would have input on the final voter lists.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has previously ruled against Trump-backed arguments on mail-in ballots, finding in June that states can count ballots that arrive after Election Day. That case was decided after full briefing and arguments, rather than on the court's emergency docket.

Trump, who has created false claims of widespread fraud in U.S. Elections including his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden, has pressed the Republican-controlled Congress to pass a contentious package of voting restrictions called the SAVE America Act.

He's additionally repeatedly pressed for the passage of the legislation that requires proof of citizenship to vote. Noncitizen voting has been shown to be rare, and is a felony that can be punishable by deportation.

Using mail ballots has become increasingly popular with voters of both parties, with regarding 30 percent of all ballots cast that way during the 2024 presidential election, according to federal data. The process additionally is secure. A 2025 Brookings Institution study discovered only concerning four cases of fraud out of every 10 million mail ballots cast.

For now, US Supreme Court sides with Trump administration on mail voting remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.