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They Asked SCOTUS To Block It. They're Republicans.
The people who asked the Supreme Court this week to keep Trump's mail-ballot rule blocked are Republicans — and they run the election offices in their own states.
The rule implements an executive order the President signed in March to tighten mail voting. In August the Postal Service turned it into a final rule: USPS could refuse to deliver ballots to any state that fails to hand over a list of eligible voters, or that uses an envelope style the rule has not approved.
On Wednesday, Republican chief election officers filed a brief asking the Supreme Court to leave the rule blocked. Their states include Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, New Hampshire, North Dakota and South Dakota. Their argument is not that the rule is a bad idea — it is that ballots have already gone out in North Carolina and other early states, and changing the rules now would disrupt an election already under way.
A day earlier, a three-judge panel of the First Circuit refused to let the rule take effect, saying the administration had not shown it would avoid "chaos and widespread voter disenfranchisement."
The appeal is still pending. Whatever the Supreme Court decides, it is deciding on a calendar that has already started counting.
References
Reporting drawn from Washington Post · Newsweek · AP · CBS News · UPI · Reuters · Election Law Blog
What the reel says
Narration as scripted and voiced.
The people asking the Supreme Court to block Trump's mail ballot rule this week are Republicans. They run the election offices in their states, and they say there is no longer time to do it
The rule comes from an executive order the president signed in March to tighten mail voting. In August, the Postal Service turned it into a final rule
Under it, the Postal Service could refuse to deliver ballots to any state that fails to hand over a list of eligible voters or that uses an envelope style the rule has not approved
On Wednesday, Republican chief election officers filed a brief asking the Supreme Court to leave the rule blocked. Their states include Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, New Hampshire, North Dakota, and South Dakota
Their argument is not about whether the rule is a good idea. It is that ballots have already gone out in North Carolina and other early states, and changing the rules now would disrupt the election that is already running
A day earlier, a federal appeals court had refused to let the rule take effect. The three judges of the First Circuit panel said the administration had not shown the rule would avoid chaos and widespread voter disenfranchisement
So the rule is blocked by a court, and the officials who would have to carry it out are asking the highest court in the country to keep it that way
The appeal is still pending. Whatever the Supreme Court decides, it is deciding it on a calendar that has already started counting
All footage is licensed stock. No court, pool or wire footage.
