Trump asks Supreme Court to allow restrictions on mail-in voting after order blocked by Democratic-led states

Donald Trump has asked the United States Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling that blocked his executive order restricting mail-in voting.

The U.S. president’s emergency appeal to the country’s highest court comes two months before the midterm elections in November and just days before ballots are due to begin being sent by mail.

Trump signed the executive order in March with the aim of restricting this method of voting, but the measure was challenged in court by several Democratic-led states.

Under the order, which was authorized for the first time by the Supreme Court about 10 days ago, the administration must draw up special lists of eligible voters. The United States Postal Service (USPS) must also be instructed to deliver mail-in ballots only to people included on those lists.

Meanwhile, the midterm elections are also creating other major logistical difficulties for President Trump. In addition to the dispute over mail-in voting, the Missouri Supreme Court has barred the use of the new Electoral College map in these elections and ruled that the issue should be included as a referendum on the November ballot, dealing Republicans a major blow.

Expressing his anger on Truth, the president wrote that the ruling “is not only terrible, ridiculous and unconstitutional, but it does not even leave enough time to return to the previous map, given that the elections are now close.”

Republicans had hoped that redrawing Missouri’s congressional boundaries would secure them one additional seat and help them retain their narrow majority in the House of Representatives. However, as a result of the ruling, the state will revert to its previous district boundaries for the fall elections.

Trump reacted again, declaring: “The electoral process, as usual, is being rigged in America! Missouri should be able to use the map that took effect just a few months ago, during the primary elections. This is a dark day for ‘justice’ in Missouri!”

The court’s ruling brought to an end the legal dispute between the group People Not Politicians Missouri, which considered the measure unconstitutional, and the state’s Republican leaders. The new map had been drawn up to disqualify one of the two Democrats representing Missouri in Congress, Emanuel Cleaver. Following the ruling, Cleaver wrote on X that “democracy” had ultimately prevailed.

The court issued its ruling shortly before the September 8 deadline set by the state for finalizing the election ballot. Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway later announced that she intends to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Under pressure from Trump, Missouri became one of the few Republican-led states to redraw its electoral districts in an effort to strengthen the Republican majority in the House of Representatives.