It should have been unanimous, but regardless, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 7-2 against the Department of Justice. Mail-In ballots can still be used for the mid-term elections that take place in about 60 days. In Donald Trump’s last ditch effort to suppress the vote, Donald Trump lost, and he lost big.
Voting rights groups from California and other states brought up the case. The two Supreme Court Justices that dissented were Justice Thomas and Justice Alito. Both of these Justices were nominated by the Bush Presidents, one from George W, and the other From George H.W. Bush.
Trump started his effort to suppress the vote by an Executive Order that required the US Postal Service to do his bidding and become part of a right wing voter suppression war machine.
The shameful effort by the Postmaster General to turn the mail into a weapon against voting rights has failed. The application for a stay presented to Supreme Court Justice Jackson referred to the court was denied.
Here is what the Supreme Court said that put this issue to rest…
“The Government is unlikely to succeed on the merits of its challenge to the district court’s preliminary injunction, and the equitable factors applicable for obtaining emergency relief from this court do not favor a stay.”
To break this statement down by the Supreme Court, it is reciting the standard for a preliminary injunction but in plain English, what six justices of the Supreme Court have said, which is that the DOJ’s position is not correct, or at least it is likely not correct. Also if this case were briefed and heard on the merits, and if all the time in the world was there and everybody could brief it, and amicus briefs could be filed, and there were oral arguments, it is likely that the states and the non-profit organizations who brought the lawsuit would prevail. In other words, the Supreme Court believes that the government would unlikely succeed. So the plaintiff wins in this case, and mail-in balloting will go forward in the mid-term elections.
Actually, since it is very close to the mid-term elections, as some states are already mailing out mail-in ballots, I would have thought that the courts would have said that it was just too late to transform away from the mail-in ballots. That would be the easy way.
Instead, the Court openly states that the U.S. Government with the Executive Order by Donald J. Trump is wrong besides being too close to the election, and the consequences of preventing mail-in balloting this late in the election cycle would just be too great. The order by the Supreme Court made it very clear that Donald Trump’s Department of Justice was wrong on the law, and that it was unlikely to succeed.
The bottom line is that when you look at the harms to the voters and to the states by this Executive Order by Trump, you look at the harms to the public and that the President and the U.S.P.S do not have any right to interfere in the election process in an attempt to disenfranchise voters just so Trump can have a win in the midterms. That’s what this is all about.
Now that Trump can’t stop voting by mail, most likely the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives will become Democratically controlled. Maybe the U.S. Congress will become more assertive and they would be willing to do their jobs and be the gatekeeper to what Trump wants to do in the future.
The only power that Donald J. Trump would have would be the power of his pen, ironically as he mocked Joe Biden’s use of the pen. Trump will become a Lame Duck President in his last two years, and he will be extremely busy trying to stave off the House when they go after him once in power. This is the exact reason why Trump wanted to stop mail-in ballots, because that would be his only chance of winning in the midterms, which would be to keep the House and Senate away from Democratic control. Trump could never win outright for his merits, as he has none, at least none in the first two years of office that would help the American people.