Late September 15 / early September 16, 2026
The Court Said No to the Mail-Ballot Shortcut
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Trump administration’s last-minute effort to impose new federal restrictions on mail ballots for the 2026 midterms, while voting and ballot mailing were already underway in some states. That is not exactly a minor scheduling conflict; it is like deciding to rebuild the Sumner Tunnel after everybody is already stuck inside it. AP reporting Supreme Court order
President Trump answered by attacking the justices who ruled against him, including justices he appointed; Attorney General Todd Blanche said the administration would comply but keep pursuing what it calls election-integrity work. The federal government’s capacity for accepting a loss remains roughly on par with a seagull accepting that your fried clams are not public property. AP reporting
The broader push has not stopped: AP reports that the Justice Department has sought detailed voter information from states and that the administration has continued election-related initiatives despite court setbacks. The Constitution assigns election administration principally to the states, with Congress holding specified authority over federal-election rules—not some executive-branch rummage sale for voter files. AP reporting Supreme Court opinion in Trump v. California
Seven Texas Charges, Then the National Megaphone
Federal prosecutors in North Texas announced charges against seven noncitizens for alleged unlawful voting in federal elections or false claims of U.S. citizenship. The cases involve alleged conduct from the 2018 and 2024 elections; six defendants were indicted and one was charged by complaint. Charges are allegations, and every defendant is presumed innocent. U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Texas
AP reported that the announcement arrived amid the administration’s wider campaign to spotlight noncitizen voting before the midterms, even though research has found such voting rare. The same report notes that Texas election officials referred 117 potential cases after screening 2,724 voters flagged by a federal-database check—out of nearly 18 million registered Texas voters. Enforce actual law, obviously. But turning seven charged people into a CB-radio emergency bulletin about a nationwide stolen election? That is a different roast beef entirely. AP reporting
The immediate accountability question is whether narrowly documented cases will be used to justify broader federal demands for sensitive state voter data, pressure on local election administrators, or rules that burden lawful voters. Courts have already treated the administration’s attempted mail-ballot overhaul as a serious separation-of-powers dispute, because apparently “the president cannot personally redesign state elections at the buzzer” needed to be explained with legal citations and everything. AP reporting Supreme Court opinion in Trump v. California
Sources
- https://apnews.com/article/trump-supreme-court-justice-mail-voting-7a937a7b4a37214d40a7a9aa4c2b5ce2
- https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-mail-ballots-voting-election-midterms-1437f497b384741c143c97db9803426c
- https://apnews.com/article/voting-noncitizens-texas-trump-midterms-00907e33456431ae6a88ca2b14dc787a
- https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndtx/pr/federal-prosecutors-crack-down-illegal-voting-seven-non-citizens-charged-sweeping
- https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/26a305_4g15.pdf
- https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/26a124_hgci.pdf
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Featured image: US Supreme Court.JPG by Photo by Mr. Kjetil Ree ., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
