The Trump administration has asked the US Supreme Court to allow new restrictions on mail-in voting to take effect before the November 3 congressional elections, after a federal judge extended a block on the measures.
Solicitor General John Sauer filed an emergency application on Sunday, urging the justices to intervene immediately. The request followed a decision on Friday by US District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston to continue preventing the US Postal Service from enforcing the rules.
The administration had already asked the Supreme Court to overturn an earlier, temporary injunction issued by Judge Talwani. That appeal remained unresolved when the judge extended the ban, prompting the latest filing.
Mr Sauer argued that keeping the injunction in place risked “sowing confusion and chaos” as states began sending ballots to voters for the midterm elections.
The Postal Service rules, introduced in response to an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in March, would require ballot envelopes to meet specific design standards and include identifying information, including individual barcodes.
States and local election authorities would also have to submit details of people receiving mail ballots to a federal online portal. Ballot mailings that failed to meet the requirements could be rejected and returned to election offices.
The administration has described the changes as modest requirements concerning postal operations and envelope information. It argues that the Postal Service has authority to regulate mail, even when it is being used to deliver election materials.
Opponents say the measures amount to federal interference in elections, an area largely controlled by the states, and have warned that the rules are being introduced too close to polling day for officials to comply safely.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who handles emergency appeals from the relevant federal circuit, has given the states and voting rights groups until Wednesday to respond to the administration’s application.
