Staff Report (DC) – An appellate court upheld a judge’s order Thursday halting President Trump’s order banning mail-in voting, as the Supreme Court deliberates on the matter and several states have already sent out ballots for the important midterm elections.
A three-judge panel refused to block the preliminary injunction against the Trump order issued last week by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani.
The Postal Service said it would not accept ballots from states that haven’t pre-approved their envelope designs with the feds and don’t have a voter roster on an online database that’s been ordered to be shut down.
“It is wholly unrealistic,” election officials said, “given that voting by mail is already underway in AL, NC and WI.”
The three judges, all named by President Biden, sided with the plaintiffs who say the president doesn’t have the authority to dictate election procedures to the states.
“Appellants have not carried their burden to show that the district court committed clear error in finding that the Final Rule is likely unlawful,” the judges wrote, referring to the Postal Service’s rule aimed at enforcing Trump’s order.
The panel’s action comes as the Supreme Court is set to hear the case, which is part of a wave of challenges to Trump’s voting order as states gear up to send millions of voters mail-in ballots for the November elections.
In a separate case filed in Washington, D.C., Democrats and civil rights groups are asking the supreme court to block the order.
Last month, the First Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request from the Trump administration to overturn a lower court order. However, the Supreme Court vacated (canceled) the stay, on procedural grounds, and declined to rule on the constitutionality of the order.
Blue Press Journal 