While on All In Monday night , Election lawyer Mark Elias and his voting rights organization, Democracy Docket, celebrated the 7-2 ruling as a major victory for voters but asserted those (conservo majority) Supremes still don’t deserve a ”gold star” for blocking Trump's mail voting restrictions
His critique centered on the court's motivations rather than a
sudden shift toward protecting voting rights:
- The
"Purcell Principle" and Timing: Elias noted that the conservative majority, including
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, sided against Trump primarily because the
midterm elections are too close. Under the court's own "Purcell
principle," judges are highly reluctant to change election rules
right before voting begins to avoid mass disruption.
- Leaving the Door Open for 2028: The court only blocked the restrictions "for now" ahead of the midterms. In his concurring opinion, Kavanaugh explicitly left the door open for the Trump administration to implement the restrictive United States Postal Service rules in future election cycles, suggesting the rule might fall within federal legislative limits.
— from the Brennan Center for Justice
Voters had a big win at the Supreme Court this week. What does it all mean?
On Monday, the court refused to allow the Postal Service to implement a new rule that would have curbed mail voting. But the one-paragraph ruling seemed to say more than “not yet.” The Trump administration, the justices ruled, was “unlikely to succeed on the merits.”
This was great news for the millions of citizens who rely on mail voting, the method now used by 1 in 3 voters. It was utterly bonkers that the White House tried to exert control over the election system. That’s illegal, a fact now confirmed over and over. The Brennan Center was proud to be part of the legal team representing voters before the Supreme Court.
President Donald Trump’s drive to undermine the election is failing. Time and again, his moves have been parried or blocked.
And:
New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan spoke at The Atlantic Festival Thursday, where the former detailed her predictions about President Donald Trump's presidency if Democrats take over one or both houses of Congress.
In a discussion about pardons and members of the administration breaking laws, court rulings, or orders, Haberman said that one thing that Steven Miller learned is that if the president declares an emergency, he can do whatever he wants. That combined with "an utterly compliant House GOP and slightly less so but fairly compliant Republican Senate" is how Trump has accomplished what he has.
Aside from the "emergency powers" efforts, another option is for Congress to hand over its power."And so, not to get too hyper local here, but there are many ways in which this government reminds me of like 1970s New York," Haberman said. "And the reason I say that is that that is Donald Trump's, you know, sort of, model of executive power."
Natalie Harp’s enormous bag and unflattering photos of Trump's rear end fuel attacks on a reporter
If there’s ever been anything Donald Trump loves more than gold, it’s a camera. The former reality TV host has willingly debased himself in a myriad of ways — doing an ad for Pizza Hut, shaving Vince McMahon’s head during a wrestling match, painful “acting” appearances in “Home Alone 2″ and “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” — all to get a sweet, sweet dose of video proof of his existence.
Right now Trump can’t stop begging for attention, even though it’s immensely damaging to his party’s midterm prospects. He forced the Republicans to throw him a two-day fake convention so he could give lengthy prime-time speeches. He holds frequent on-camera events in the Oval Office, forgoing the work of actual governance so he can be photographed sitting behind the Resolute Desk.
The New York Times reported Monday that federal agents may have broken state laws when the Department of Homeland Security ordered them to use private information to access voter records in state databases.
President Donald Trump's effort to find noncitizens on state voter rolls may be relying on questionable data, rushed reviews and even investigative practices that could have violated local state law.
The “Unlawful Voter Initiative” is a Trump administration operation that has reportedly deployed hundreds of federal agents to search voter-registration records for evidence that noncitizens are voting in mass numbers. It was exposed in a New York Times report last month, in which the whistleblower alleged that hundreds of federal agents have been ordered to sift through voter rolls in a widespread hunt to find voter fraud.
