SEATTLE — The fight over mail-in voting is inching closer to the November election.
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that more than 20 states lack the legal standing to challenge a Trump executive order aimed at restricting mail-in voting, at least for now.
Despite the ruling, voting procedures remain unchanged for the upcoming November election because a separate court order currently continues to block the policy from being implemented.
Parts of the executive order, signed in March, direct the Department of Homeland Security to create lists of citizens, and direct the U.S. Postal Service to only process mail ballots for voters on those lists.
The Supreme Court addressed only the procedural standing of the states’ challenge and did not rule on the actual legality of the executive order itself.
More than 20 states, including Washington, joined the lawsuit to stop the administration’s mandate.
Danieli Evans, an assistant professor of law at the University of Washington School of Law, outlined the primary argument behind the states’ challenge.
“There is no power granted in the constitution to the president to determine the time, place and manner of holding elections or the process for holding elections,” Evans said.
Outside of this case, a separate court order in a different lawsuit continues to prevent the U.S. Postal Service from implementing any changes ahead of November.
Evans noted that the remaining legal challenge raises similar arguments.
If the remaining injunction is lifted, election officials warn the executive order could take effect immediately. By Tuesday evening, it remained in place unchanged.
If that happened, it’s not clear what it would look like.
“The administration’s entire case depended on it arguing that it’s very unclear what this order is going to require,” Evans said.
That being said, the federal government has sought to quickly implement the plan.
Critics have called the effort an attempt to sow chaos ahead of the elections in action that could lead to a logistical nightmare.
In response, Washington’s attorney general reiterated that he stands ready to take legal action to prevent the order from moving forward.
“Fortunately, (Monday’s) decision does not bless the substance of the president’s actions, it simply says states must wait slightly longer to challenge them,” Washington Attorney General Nick Brown wrote. “We stand ready to take action to protect the integrity of our elections and prevent this clearly unconstitutional overreach from taking effect.”