Miami
The U.S. Supreme Court blocked election changes pushed by Trump and Republicans ahead of the midterms
Over the past week, the court halted a plan involving mail ballots and refused to revive a new Missouri congressional map. Election law experts cited by NBC News said the rulings point to deep skepticism toward last-minute changes as voting gets underway.
The U.S. Supreme Court handed Donald Trump and fellow Republicans a series of setbacks in recent days, as the fight for control of Congress intensifies ahead of the November midterm elections.
As NBC News reported, the court on Monday night blocked Trump’s plan to assert federal control over mail ballots through a U.S. Postal Service regulation. Earlier in the week, it had twice declined to revive a new congressional map in Missouri that, according to the network, would have removed one of two Democratic-held districts.
Election law experts interviewed by NBC News said the rulings suggest that the court’s conservative majority is unlikely to welcome last-minute requests that change voting rules when an election is near or already underway.
Justin Levitt, an election law expert at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and an NBC News contributor, said the recent decisions show there is no five-justice majority willing to endorse chaos. Bob Bauer, who served as White House counsel under Barack Obama, told NBC News that the justices are likely to scrutinize extraordinary actions that could destabilize the electoral process.
NBC News said timing was central in both disputes. Some states have already begun sending ballots, and in Missouri the state Supreme Court faulted Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins for delaying a decision on whether the new map could be challenged. It ultimately held him in contempt for defying its ruling in favor of the plaintiffs.
In the Postal Service case, NBC News reported that the regulation moved forward despite warnings from election officials who said they could not implement it in time. Travis Crum, a Washington University School of Law in St. Louis professor and NBC News contributor, told the outlet that the Supreme Court made clear it would not tolerate that kind of late-stage move.
Trump responded on Tuesday with criticism on Truth Social and again pushed baseless claims of widespread fraud involving mail ballots, NBC News reported.
Looking ahead to November, experts cited by the network said any new effort to alter election rules at the last minute, including possible new Trump administration proposals involving mail voting, is likely to face a similarly chilly response from the justices. They also cautioned that it is still too early to know what litigation might emerge before or after Election Day.
NBC News added that some election officials are concerned the federal government could try to seize ballots or other voting records based on fraud allegations similar to those raised by Trump and his allies after the 2020 presidential election, claims that courts later rejected.
The outlet also noted that while the court has a 6-3 conservative majority and often rules in favor of Republican priorities, it has also dealt Trump major defeats this year in other cases, including disputes over his sweeping tariffs and his plan to roll back birthright citizenship.
Sources
About this piece. Written by El Notero with AI assistance, from reporting published by the outlet cited above. El Notero did no original reporting on this story.
