by Jamil Ragland and Donald Eng
HARTFORD, CT — The U.S. Supreme Court rejected President Donald Trump’s attempt to institute new rules on mail-in voting Monday evening in a 7-2 emergency decision. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented, according to reports.
The decision comes as some states already are sending out ballots. Over the past several decades, voting by mail has become more popular across the country. According to the States United Action nonprofit organization, 31% of voters – about 48 million – cast their ballot through the mail in the 2024 election, with white voters, voters over 65 and military personnel being the most likely to vote by mail.
Just hours before the decision’s release, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-CT, had held a press conference in front of the Washington Ave. Post Office in Hartford, urging the court to reject Trump’s executive order, which he said would disenfranchise millions of voters.
Blumenthal said there was a basic principle in the country that voters choose their leaders, not the other way around.
But Trump, he said, “wants to, in effect, bar the ballot from millions of Americans who might vote differently than he would like. And that is not only unconscionable and unconstitutional, it’s un-American. Donald Trump wants to do it using the United States Postal Service as his instrument.”
The executive order, which Trump issued in March, requires states to meet certain design requirements, such as bar codes and an official logo. States would also be required to turn over voter lists to the federal government for what it calls verification of citizenship.
Legal challenges to the order were immediate, with many states claiming the election was too close to redesign ballot envelopes. Two federal judges agreed with the challenges, blocking the order on grounds the changes weren’t authorized by Congress. The order is before the Supreme Court, which could issue a ruling this week.
Blumenthal announced that a bipartisan, bicameral group of current and former members of Congress had submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court calling for the court to rule against the Trump administration’s request for an emergency ruling to allow the order to go into effect.
The senator also called on Congress to pass the Absentee and Mail Voter Protection Act, which he cosponsors. The bill would repeal Trump’s executive order, and prevent federal agencies from using funds to establish a national voter database or interfere with mail-in voting in other ways.
“I’m hoping the Supreme Court will do the right thing, but we’re going to act legislatively to say to our Republican colleagues, you need to stand up for democracy here,” he said. “You need to put some constraints on the president, no matter which president it is. But this president clearly is disrespecting and breaking the laws, the norms, the traditions of voting in this country.”
In a statement, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong – who was part of a coalition of 25 state governors and attorneys general to challenge the executive order – called the decision a huge win for free and fair elections.
“Donald Trump has tried over and over again to seize control of this election, to pick and choose who gets to vote and how we cast our ballots. Tonight, the United States Supreme Court sided with states and gave Donald Trump a big no,” Tong said. “I have no illusions that this President is done trying to inject chaos and confusion into this election, but we’re going to be there at every step to fight to protect voters and our democracy.”
Blumenthal said there is no evidence of ballot-related mail fraud in Connecticut, and “not a scintilla” of evidence to support the president’s claims that non-citizens are voting using mail-in ballots.
“There may be some ballots that are mismarked, but there is no evidence of any kind of conspiracy, or indeed individual actions, to use mail-in ballots to commit fraud,” he said.
According to the Associated Press, a whistleblower report said the postal system’s requirements could lead to millions of mail ballots never being sent, because the portal wasn’t properly built and a single bar code error could result in an entire batch of ballots being tossed out.
Editor’s note — This story has been updated with additional comments received after its original publication.