The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Trump administration's bid to impose strict new mail-ballot rules in time for this year's midterm elections, a defeat that keeps the U.S. Postal Service delivering ballots under its existing procedures.

The blocked plan, which followed an executive order from President Trump, would have required states to hand over lists of voters' names and addresses and to affix specific barcodes to ballot envelopes before USPS would deliver them, according to NPR.

The court's reasoning

Writing for the court, Justice Brett Kavanaugh found the administration was unlikely to prevail on the merits, arguing that forcing the rule into effect for the 2026 elections would be "arbitrary and capricious" under the Administrative Procedure Act because state and local election officials lack sufficient time to comply before voting begins, per Al Jazeera.

Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented. Alito argued that some of the plaintiffs challenging the rule lacked standing, while the remaining ones were pursuing what the court had recently dismissed as a "Hail Mary pass," according to CNN.

ARBITRARY AND CAPRICIOUS

The ruling is a significant setback for a White House push to tighten mail voting rules nationwide ahead of November, and it lands as both parties gear up for a midterm cycle in which mail ballots are expected to play an outsized role in close House and Senate races. Voting rights groups had warned the barcode and data-sharing requirements would create confusion and delay in an election already under a compressed timeline.

The administration has not signaled whether it will pursue the underlying legal challenge further once the midterms have passed, but for now, election officials in dozens of states can proceed without altering ballot-processing systems they've already finalized for November.