Supreme Court Blocks Trump's Mail Ballot Restrictions Ahead of Midterms

The Supreme Court on Monday blocked the Trump administration from moving forward with new restrictions on mail-in ballots ahead of the pivotal 2026 midterm elections. The decision stops the US Postal Service from denying delivery of ballots that don't comply with a rule adopted after President Trump signed an executive order in March seeking to tighten mail-in voting requirements.

Under the rule, states would have needed to send the Postal Service lists of ballot recipients and use pre-approved ballot envelopes, giving the agency authority to reject ballots that didn't meet the new standards or weren't tied to registered voters. A majority of justices declined to let the restrictions take effect for November. Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote a concurring opinion suggesting the rule could still fall within the Postal Service's statutory authority in principle, but said applying it to the 2026 elections would be arbitrary and capricious because state and local election officials lacked sufficient time to implement it before voting begins. As a result of the ruling, mail voting in the 2026 midterms is expected to function largely as it has in past elections.