Donald Trump Accused of 'Unconstitutional' Election Power Grab in Supreme Court Showdown

A bipartisan coalition of current and former lawmakers has urged the Supreme Court to address President Donald Trump’s "unconstitutional" directives regarding mail-ballot procedures. The legal discussion centers on administrative actions addressing federal election integrity and United States Postal Service policies.

The group, made up of a bipartisan, bicameral coalition of 261 lawmakers, filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court of the United States in the matter of United States Postal Service, et al., v. State of California, et al., a lawsuit brought by a coalition of State Attorneys General against the U.S. Postal Service.

“This is a naked power grab by a historically unpopular President — who himself regularly votes by mail — to inject confusion and chaos into our elections in a last-ditch effort to keep his party in power. It will not work. I’m proud to stand with a strong bipartisan, bicameral group of current and former colleagues in urging the court to continue rejecting this lawless election interference,” said Ranking Member Jamie Raskin.

The case challenges a Final Rule issued by the USPS under Trump’s directive that imposes unconstitutional and unworkable restrictions on mail-in voting, including requiring states to provide a “citizenship verification list” and giving USPS control over who can vote by mail.

In briefs submitted to the court, opposing groups have argued over how authority is divided between the federal government and state governments in administering elections.

The arguments focus on the constitutional roles of Congress, the executive branch, and states in managing election processes and voter registration systems.

Questions have been raised regarding operational guidelines for handling election mail and the scope of administrative oversight.

One-third of Americans are expected to vote by mail in the upcoming midterm elections — a voting practice Trump himself used as recently as August, when the president voted in Florida’s Republican primary.

The lawmakers argue in the filing that Trump’s Executive Order 14399, “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections,” “violates the separation of powers and usurps congressional authorities outlined in Article I of the U.S. Constitution, which gives the states and Congress exclusive authority over election administration.”

“As current and former legislators, amici took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States—including its guarantee of the separation of powers. Amici have a particular interest in defending the institutional role of the Legislative Branch under Article I of the Constitution and in vindicating the long-settled principle that the Constitution commits ultimate regulatory authority over federal elections to Congress. The Constitution does not contemplate the Executive Branch acting unilaterally to assert power over federal elections. Yet that is what the Order and Final Rule do,” wrote the lawmakers.

They blasted Trump after a recent federal court ruling blocking the USPS from implementing its newly finalized mail ballot rule for the midterm elections, saying the agency lacked the authority to implement the rule and that its actions are “substantively unconstitutional and contrary to law.”

The group concluded by saying the president’s “illegal incursion on this authority is an attempt to disenfranchise people who depend on mail-in ballots to vote.”

“The integrity of our constitutional system depends on each branch keeping to its assigned role. The Framers set up a two-part system that gave the States default authority to regulate federal elections subject to Congress’s authority to override the States. The Framers did not provide the President with any authority to interfere in that system, nor has Congress imbued the Executive Branch with any such authority by statute,” they wrote.