Brown Jackson Declines Trump Admin Request Over Mail-In Ballot Order

Sauer also asked the Supreme Court to issue an immediate administrative stay, which would temporarily suspend the lower court’s ruling while the justices consider the administration’s request.

But Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson later Monday declined the administration’s request without issuing a formal ruling, instead ordering the plaintiffs to respond to the government’s emergency application within seven days.

“The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to restore key parts of President Trump’s election integrity executive order, including provisions directing USPS to change federal mail-ballot procedures, arguing lower courts blocked the policy before any final agency action,” SCOTUSBlog noted on X.

Trump signed the executive order at the center of the case, titled “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections,” on March 31.

Among its provisions, the order directs the U.S. Postal Service to develop new rules governing mail-in and absentee ballots and instructs the Department of Homeland Security to compile state lists identifying U.S. citizens who are at least 18 years old.

Under the proposed rules, the USPS would be permitted to deliver mail-in ballots only to voters whose names appear on those state citizenship lists.

A coalition of 23 states and the District of Columbia, led by California, challenged the executive order in federal court in Massachusetts.