‘Terrible, highly political’ decision: Trump attacks Supreme Court after vote fails | Today’s news
US President Donald Trump has launched a broad attack on the US Supreme Court after the justices rejected his request to reinstate restrictions on postal voting, accusing the court of failing to protect the country and criticizing several other recent decisions.
In a lengthy post on Truth Social, Trump described the court’s ruling on mail-in voting as a “bad decision” and “a big loss for Republicans and America itself.” He claimed, without providing evidence, that the ruling would make it easier for Democrats to “cheat” through mail-in ballots.
Trump also criticized the justices who supported the majority decision and praised Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas who dissented.
Trump attacks Supreme Court over mail-in voting
The Supreme Court dealt a major blow to Trump’s bid to limit mail-in voting ahead of November’s midterm elections when it rejected his request to overturn an order blocking the policy on Monday (14 September).
Only two of the court’s six conservative justices dissented from the decision.
While concurring with the majority, Judge Brett Kavanaugh said Trump’s plan could potentially be legal over the longer term, but that state and local election officials did not have enough time to implement the rule before the election.
Trump’s executive order in March sought to limit voting by mail by requiring voter lists to be compiled and ordering the U.S. Postal Service to deliver ballots only to voters who appear on those lists.
The order drew several legal challenges from Democratic-led states, which argued that the Constitution gives states broad authority over election administration.
Several states, including North Carolina, have already begun mailing ballots to voters.
Democrats welcome the Supreme Court’s decision
Democratic leaders welcomed the decision, arguing that Trump’s effort to limit mail-in voting is unconstitutional.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Trump’s plan to make it harder to vote is “clearly unconstitutional” and that the Supreme Court got it right.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the court had blocked Trump’s “diabolical plan” to limit mail-in ballots, adding that “democracy won.”
The American Civil Liberties Union also called the decision a “major victory for voting rights, electoral integrity and democracy.”
But Trump has repeatedly attacked mail-in voting, arguing without evidence that it is particularly prone to fraud. He also continued to push his false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him by Democrat Joe Biden.
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Despite his criticism of mail-in voting, Trump has used the system himself, including when he voted by mail in Florida’s Republican primary earlier this year.
Trump is also attacking the birthright citizenship decision
In the same post, Trump criticized the Supreme Court’s handling of his attempts to limit first-born citizenship.
His comments came after a US federal judge in Maryland blocked a new Trump executive order targeting what the administration described as “birth tourism”.
U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman issued a preliminary injunction on Sept. 2, ruling that the order was “almost certainly unconstitutional.” She also said the Supreme Court had already determined that children placed in the certified class were citizens at birth.
Trump’s executive order on primogeniture sought to deny automatic citizenship to children born in the US to parents who were in the country illegally or on temporary visas.
Lower courts blocked the order, saying that the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment protects birthright citizenship. The Supreme Court subsequently rejected Trump’s earlier effort.
Trump’s latest order was aimed at people he accused of entering the US as tourists with the intention of giving birth in the country.
Trump condemns court ruling on tariffs
Trump also again criticized the Supreme Court for its ruling on his tariff policy, warning that the decision could cost the US “trillions and trillions of dollars”.
He accused the judges of failing to protect American interests and said the court’s decisions had caused enormous damage to the country.
Trump said the justices had been “bullied and cajoled” by what he called the “radical left” and described the court’s recent rulings as some of the most damaging in US history.
The president said he felt it was his “duty and obligation” to criticize the court, even though he believed it could have political consequences.
The latest clash adds to growing tensions between Trump and the Supreme Court over his administration’s efforts on voting, immigration and other major policy issues.
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