Some surprising allies have joined the fight against President Donald Trump’s effort to sow chaos in this fall’s election.
More than 250 sitting and former members of Congress — including a bloc of former Republican lawmakers — have asked the Supreme Court to block the president’s executive order to restrict mail-in voting ahead of November’s midterms, arguing the president illegally seized election authority that belongs to Congress and the states, reported MS NOW.
The amicus brief, filed Tuesday and led by Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY), Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA), Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO), Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), argues that Trump’s March executive order and a related U.S. Postal Service rule are unconstitutional.
Nearly all House Democrats and all 47 members of the Senate Democratic caucus signed on, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).
Notably, 15 former Republican members of Congress also joined the brief, among them Barbara Comstock of Virginia, Christopher Shays of Connecticut and Mickey Edwards of Oklahoma. No sitting Republicans signed, despite what a source familiar with the effort described as targeted outreach to current GOP members.
The filing argues the Constitution gives states, not the executive branch, power over the “Times, Places, and Manner” of federal elections, subject only to alteration by Congress.
“The Executive Branch cannot justify the Order or Final Rule under any delegation of authority from Congress,” the brief states, “because none exists.”
It also contends the Postal Service’s new rule violates the Constitution’s Postal Clause, which the lawmakers describe as a legislative power that “nowhere mentions the Executive.”
The dispute centers on a USPS rule requiring states to share lists of mail voters and use federally approved envelopes, finalized last month to implement Trump’s executive order.
A federal judge in Boston blocked the rule Friday, ruling it “clashes with Congress’s statutory scheme, and is unconstitutional.”
The Trump administration has since asked the Supreme Court to allow the rule to proceed, with Solicitor General John Sauer arguing it merely imposes “reasonable preparation requirements” rather than seizing control of state election administration.
A coalition of roughly two dozen states and Washington, D.C., has separately sued to block the rule, and a whistleblower has described the Postal Service’s implementation process as “rushed” and “haphazard.”
The fight is playing out against a tight clock, with states including North Carolina already mailing ballots and others set to follow in the coming days.
In a statement, Neguse warned the rule could “disenfranchise millions of Americans,” while Raskin called it “a naked power grab by a historically unpopular President” who himself regularly votes by mail. “It will not work,” Raskin said.
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