LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The U.S. Supreme Court has handed President Trump a temporary win on his efforts to restrict voting by mail.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
It involves how the U.S. Postal Service will deliver ballots for this fall's midterm election. But the legal fight is not over.
FADEL: To break down the Supreme Court's decision, we're joined by NPR's Hansi Lo Wang. Good morning, Hansi.
HANSI LO WANG, BYLINE: Morning, Leila.
FADEL: OK. So this lawsuit is based on an executive order that Trump signed in March. Where are we in this legal fight over that order?
WANG: We are in the middle of this fight still. This new Supreme Court decision is not the final word. The justices have not ruled on whether President Trump's order is legal, and so far, this order has not directly affected mail-in voting.
FADEL: So what effect does yesterday's Supreme Court ruling actually have, then?
WANG: Well, here's a way to think about this. There have been two rulings from a judge in Boston. They both blocked the U.S. Postal Service from carrying out Trump's order to restrict voting by mail. And I should note - USPS is a financial support of NPR. Now, what the Supreme Court has done is pause the first of those two rulings. This first one blocked USPS from working on Trump's order in about half of the states, plus Washington, D.C. But there is a second ruling that is still in effect, and it's blocking USPS across the country right now.
FADEL: What had Trump ordered the Postal Service to do?
WANG: Trump basically called for the Postal Service to deliver mail-in ballots only to people on lists of mail-in voters that states would have to turn over to USPS. And Trump has said he issued this order to stop illegal voting by non-U.S. citizens, which many studies and audits have found to be extremely rare. And by the way, Trump himself has voted by mail in Florida.
FADEL: And what did the Supreme Court actually say?
WANG: Well, what we have is an unsigned ruling from this conservative-led court on procedural questions. The court's three liberal justices dissented. But the ruling basically says the judge in Boston weighed in too early back in June by concluding that Trump's order oversteps the president's authority under the Constitution and that USPS has no legal authority to control mail-in voting. The Trump administration argued it had not fully carried out the order, so it shouldn't be blocked, and the Supreme Court agreed.
FADEL: And what are you hearing from the order's challengers?
WANG: Well, we're weeks away from the start of mail-in voting for the midterm elections. And I talked to Colorado's Democratic secretary of state, Jena Griswold. Her state is one of the 23 suing over Trump's order. And there is real concern about the possibility of Trump's order making a real mess of mail-in voting for the midterms.
JENA GRISWOLD: The election process is already underway. This is a very close fight to the actual election. But make no mistake. When the federal government attempts to implement this unlawful executive order, Colorado and other states across the country will fight back.
FADEL: OK. So before you go, we should talk about what this means for voters. What should eligible voters take away from all of this?
WANG: You know, at this point, it's really unclear what impact Trump's order will actually end up having. And for now, the bottom line is voting by mail is still a viable option to all voters who are eligible for it in their states, and USPS is expected to deliver mail-in ballots as usual. But, Leila, I'm going to keep watching these lawsuits. The Supreme Court said its new ruling does not mean the implementation of Trump's order will be lawful. The court even wrote in its decision, quote, "on that score, time will tell."
FADEL: That's NPR's Hansi Lo Wang. Hansi, thank you. And thanks for watching these lawsuits. I'm sure you'll be back on to talk about that.
WANG: You're very welcome, Leila. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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