Federal appeals court upholds suspension of Trump executive order on mail-in voting

A federal appeals court on Thursday confirmed the suspension of a presidential decree by Donald Trump aimed at more strictly regulating postal voting from the crucial midterm elections in November, on which the Supreme Court has yet to rule.

This is the latest episode in an intensifying legal battle, as the mailing of the first mail-in ballots to voters has just begun in some states. A federal judge extended on September 4 until these elections the suspension of the new rules issued by the United States Postal Service (USPS) for the delivery of electoral ballots by mail, in application of a presidential decree from Donald Trump aimed at more strictly regulating this method of voting.

The Trump administration immediately appealed the judge's decision, before sending a similar appeal to the Supreme Court on Sunday to obtain the suspension of this decision until further notice. An appeals court on Thursday rejected this request for a stay, on which the Supreme Court has not yet ruled.

Donald Trump opposed to postal voting

The appeal judges said they shared the conclusions of the trial court, according to which these new rules for the Post Office, which depends on the executive, “probably” derogate from the Constitution which entrusts Congress and the States with the organization of elections, including federal elections.

They also noted the risks mentioned by the first instance judge of “chaos and large-scale deprivation of the right to vote of citizens” if these new rules were applied immediately. Donald Trump regularly denounces postal voting, to which he largely attributes his defeat - which he still does not recognize - in 2020 against Democrat Joe Biden.

On March 31, he signed a decree intended to more strictly regulate postal voting, a measure challenged in court by a group of states governed by Democrats and an organization of voters. The decree orders the Immigration and Social Security departments to create a federal list of eligible voters, and the Postal Service to issue mail-in ballots only to people on that list.

The stated objective is to limit the risk that foreigners will be able to vote in the American elections, a specter regularly raised by Donald Trump and the Republican camp, although the phenomenon is extremely rare, according to official statistics. Nearly a third of American voters voted by mail in 2024, according to the United States organization.