Voting advocates cheer Supreme Court ruling blocking Trump mail voting attack

Election officials and pro-voting advocates heaved a tremendous sigh of relief late Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to keep in place a block on President Donald Trump’s mail voting restrictions for the midterms.

League of Women Voters chief executive officer Celina Stewart, whose group brought the challenge to Trump’s order, blasted his “extraordinary attempt to interfere with voting in all 50 states.” 

“Voters should never be caught in the middle of a political power warfare,” Stewart said in a statement. “The League fought back, and we will keep fighting because the fundamental right to vote cannot depend on the whims of any president or federal agency. Voters decide elections. Period.”

The ruling* was 6-1-2, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh writing a concurring opinion and Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissenting.

NAACP General Counsel Kristen Clarke said in a statement that the decision represented a “big victory” for voters. 

“The Supreme Court rightly rejected an effort that would have made it harder for millions of Americans to participate in our elections,” Clarke said. “Mail voting is safe, secure, and deeply rooted in our nation’s history. The Court’s decision preserves a critical pathway to the ballot box and reaffirms that our democracy works best when every eligible voter can participate.”

Rep. Robert Garcia (D), ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, slammed Trump’s attack on mail voting.  

“Donald Trump tried to illegally interfere with our elections and undermine vote-by-mail for millions of Americans and failed,” Garcia said.

Election officials across the country were quick to celebrate the victory.

Democratic Association of Secretaries of State (DASS) Chair and Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar called the ruling another loss in Trump’s “unconstitutional war to choose his own voters” and said in a statement that Democratic secretaries of state “stand ready to fight any attempt to cause chaos, fear, and intimidation in our elections.”

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D) called the mail voting restrictions “Trump’s attempt to sabotage the 2026 elections” and vowed to keep fighting “every attempt to suppress the vote or unlawfully federalize elections.”

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon (D) also welcomed the ruling, saying the mail voting plan was a “deeply flawed scheme to force the U.S. Postal Service to police voter eligibility.” 

*The Elias Law Group (ELG) represents Democratic plaintiffs in a separate challenge to the executive order. ELG Firm Chair Marc Elias is the founder of Democracy Docket.