US Supreme Court rejects Trump bid to restrict mail ballots as voting begins

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected President Donald Trump's bid to restrict mail ballots for the midterm elections, capping a flurry of last-minute legal action with voting already underway. The decision allows states to continue sending out mail ballots under the same processes they’ve used for years and have accounted for nearly a third of votes cast. It represented a stark defeat for Trump on an issue he consistently has emphasised as vital to ensuring election integrity even though there is virtually no evidence of fraud with mail ballots. The Supreme Court majority did not detail its reasoning, as is typical for its emergency docket. Two justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, publicly dissented from the brief order. The Trump administration had asked the court, once again at the centre of a roiling political controversy, to clear the way for restrictions before the pivotal November contests for control of Congress. Alito wrote in his dissent that the Postal Service “has broad authority to regulate the mail” and likely does have the power to enforce Trump's restrictions. Read moreUS midterms start with North Carolina distributing mail-voting ballots Justice Brett Kavanau...