Trump Rips Supreme Court Picks After Justices Block New Mail-Ballot Rules
President Donald Trump sharply criticized three of his own Supreme Court appointees after the justices rejected his administration’s attempt to implement new U.S. Postal Service requirements for mail-in ballots ahead of the November midterm elections.
Trump singled out Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh while reacting to the decision, saying the three were no longer acting like the people he interviewed before nominating them to the nation’s highest court. He also expressed frustration with several other recent Supreme Court decisions that went against his administration.
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the administration’s emergency request to lift a lower-court injunction blocking the Postal Service rule. The unsigned order said the government was unlikely to succeed on the merits of its challenge and had not satisfied the requirements for emergency relief.
The disputed rule would require states to use specially designed ballot envelopes containing voter-specific barcodes and provide voter information to the Postal Service. Ballot mail that failed to meet the requirements could be returned to state election officials rather than delivered.
Kavanaugh wrote separately to explain his vote. He said there was at least a reasonable possibility that the Postal Service possesses the legal authority to establish the requirements, but concluded that implementing them for the 2026 elections would violate federal administrative law because election officials did not have enough time to make the necessary changes.
Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented, arguing that the administration had met the requirements necessary for the rule to take effect while litigation continued. The remaining justices, including Barrett and Gorsuch, did not individually explain their votes.
Trump responded by arguing that the ruling represented another setback for his efforts to change election procedures. He has repeatedly pushed for tighter restrictions on voting by mail, maintaining that stronger safeguards are necessary to protect election integrity.
The administration’s Postal Service rule originated from an executive directive Trump issued in March. States and voting-rights organizations challenged the resulting regulations, arguing that they improperly inserted the federal executive branch into election administration and could prevent eligible voters from receiving or returning ballots.
Federal judges in Massachusetts and Washington had already blocked the regulations before the Supreme Court acted. Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, concluded in the Washington case that key portions of the rule exceeded the Postal Service’s statutory authority.
The Supreme Court’s decision means the new requirements will remain blocked as states prepare for the November 3 midterm elections. The underlying litigation can continue, leaving open the possibility that courts will eventually determine whether similar Postal Service requirements could legally be implemented in future elections.