Lawyers Warn Donald Trump’s Mail-In Ballot Crackdown Is a 'Bald-Faced Grab for Power' Likened to Darkest Voter Suppression Efforts

An explosive amicus brief filed on Tuesday, September 1, in a Massachusetts federal court accuses President Donald Trump of using "dictator tactics" to restrict mail-in voting ahead of the midterms.

The brief was submitted by the legal advocacy group Lawyers for the Rule of Law.

It supports a lawsuit brought by the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts against the Trump administration.

The legal team states that the administration's aggressive mail-in ballot crackdown is a "bald-faced grab for power." They compare it to historical authoritarian efforts to suppress voters.

The filing argues the administration is weaponizing federal infrastructure through measures like restricting USPS processing to pre-approved voter lists (with a whistleblower report warning of computer system errors affecting a large portion of the electorate), forcing officials to submit voter lists to the federal government, and restricting eligibility via Department of Homeland Security database checks.

These directives face significant legal resistance.

Judge Denise Casper previously blocked parts of the order over ballot-access concerns, and a separate injunction against the USPS system is under appeal, potentially heading to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The policies, legal challenges and administrative actions surrounding federal and state election administration ahead of the 2026 midterm elections remain a subject of significant public debate and ongoing litigation in federal courts.

Critics and voting rights organizations have raised concerns about federal initiatives that affect mail-in voting procedures and voter data verification, arguing that these measures could affect eligible voters.

“The USPS whistleblower’s allegations confirm our worst fears: Trump officials are defying court orders and pressing ahead with a voter suppression effort that could deny millions of Americans their ability to vote by mail just weeks before the election. This is exactly why I have repeatedly warned that the Trump Administration is trying to turn the Postal Service into a tool to deny eligible Americans access to the ballot. Postmaster General Steiner must stop this effort immediately and come before Congress to explain who authorized it, who knew it was continuing despite the court orders, and why,” said Illinois Democrat, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi.

Michael Waldman of the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan law and public policy institute at the New York University (NYU) School of Law that works to reform, revitalize and defend systems of democracy and justice, warns that Trump’s increasingly aggressive push to influence elections is downright unconstitutional and dangerous.

“Trump has repeatedly demanded that Republicans ‘nationalize’ the elections on behalf of his political party. Each time his aides try to clean up his remarks, he doubles down. ‘A state is an agent for the federal government in elections,’ he wrongly insisted. Constitutionally, that’s upside-down land. The Constitution is unambiguous: States run elections. Presidents have no role,” he said.

All Voting is Local, a nonpartisan, nonprofit civic organization dedicated to protecting and expanding ballot access while fighting voter suppression at the state and local levels, agrees and has vowed to push back against Trump's efforts.

“President Donald Trump and the U.S. Postal Service’s purported effort to secretly keep 47 million people from voting is a wild and illegal disregard for voters who rely on vote-by-mail, and it’s another pathetic and desperate attempt to control our elections before a single ballot in the general election is even cast. This is another attempted power grab by the Trump administration and his allies. It’s also a demonstration of election sabotage with real consequences for people across America who use mail-in voting —including busy parents with multiple jobs, rural voters who can’t drive an hour to a polling location, and possibly even those deployed overseas. Every eligible voter, regardless of their political beliefs, has a right to make their voice heard. How they choose to do that is up to them, in accordance with the laws of the state where they live. Mail-in voting is a safeguarded and accurate method of voting run by the states. It’s also proven to help expand and increase voter participation, especially among Black, Brown, rural, and other historically excluded communities. In advance of the upcoming elections, All Voting will continue supporting local election officials and voters to protect the will of the people and make sure that every vote is counted accurately," said AVL Executive Vice President Cynthia Travieso.