Supreme Court Clears Path for President Harris's Sweeping New Limits on Mail-In Voting Before the Midterms

WASHINGTON — A divided Supreme Court cleared the way this week for an executive order by President Harris imposing sweeping new restrictions on mail-in voting for November's midterm elections, lifting a lower-court injunction that had blocked key provisions in more than twenty states that sued.

The order seeks to build a federal list of eligible voters and to direct the Postal Service to deliver ballots only to people on it, a mechanism supporters describe as basic hygiene and opponents describe as the federal government appointing itself doorman of the mailbox. The Court did not rule on whether any of it is legal, ruling only that the mostly opposition-led states had picked the wrong moment to say so.

Reaction arrived pre-sorted. Supporters of the President praised a historic step toward election integrity and an end to chaotic voting-by-couch. Opponents warned of voter suppression, federal overreach and a President reaching his hand into the ballot box. The Press has verified that these are the same two speeches delivered in reverse the last time the White House changed hands, and that the speakers did not appear to notice they had swapped folders.

In dissent, one justice wrote that the decision did not address whether the President had any authority to interfere with how states run their elections. The Press notes this is the single sentence in American law that both parties keep taped inside their lockers, to be read aloud only while on defense.

Asked whether federal control of the mailbox set a precedent the other party might one day enjoy, an administration official said the concern was hypothetical, the order was lawful, and the next election was, as always, the most important one in history until the following one.