Trump's lawyers asked the Supreme Court on Sunday to let the government collect the name and address of every American who votes by mail. On Tuesday more than 250 sitting and former lawmakers told the Court he has no such power. Eight of them are Republicans.
Barbara Comstock, the former Virginia congresswoman, signed alongside Sen. Alex Padilla and Rep. Jamie Raskin. The order and the postal rule behind it, they wrote, "unlawfully usurp for the Executive Branch the authority over federal elections that the Framers granted exclusively to the States and to Congress." Congress delegated no such power, they added: "none exists."
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson gave the states until 4 p.m. Wednesday to answer. A federal judge in Boston blocked the rule on 4 September. Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia are fighting it; twelve back the administration. Trump has now taken three election fights to the Supreme Court.
Postal officials did not think this up. Trump signed Executive Order 14399 on 31 March, and it reads like a work order. He told the Postmaster General to open rulemaking on ballot-mail markings and barcodes. He told the Postal Service to keep "Mail-In and Absentee Participation Lists" with ballot-envelope identifiers, and to help DOJ investigate unlawful use of the mail.
