On Sept. 15, election officials in several U.S. states, particularly those that use mail-in voting as a major part of their regular election procedures, especially our own California, plus Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, and Utah, are breathing a collective sigh of relief as the U.S. Supreme Court just shot down Donald Trump’s latest attempt to try and take unconstitutional federal control of American elections.
In a 7-2 decision, the Court denied any presidential authority to order the U.S. Post Office to change a state’s standard procedure for conducting mail-in balloting as part of its regular voting operations. Mr. Trump had very recently tried to strong-arm what has always been considered a state’s right–as stated in the U.S. Constitution- to conduct regular elections however it sees fit, by ordering the U.S. Post Office to illegally collect personal voter data and control whether, how, and when citizens could vote through mailing in their ballots.
The Court said the federal government, through an executive order from the POTUS, had no authority to do that, and Trump’s latest executive order to change mail-in voting was illegal and could not be implemented.
Unfortunately, if the past is still prologue in situations like this with this particular POTUS, he will likely still try to implement his executive order in some way and thus soil the upcoming midterm election process anyway. Ignoring court decisions that do not go his way has become standard operating procedure for this particular POTUS.
It is a very safe bet that he will try this same tactic again, or some other affront against the constitutional order, in another attempt to sow chaos, disorder, and confusion into the coming midterm elections. Playing it straight is not a habit for this particular leader. Cheating is.
We do not yet know exactly what new attempt he will use to interfere with the upcoming midterm elections; we know he will do something sketchy and probably illegal. In these particular midterms, it is critically important that every American who can vote does so. American democracy is most certainly on the line this time.
Meanwhile, “hooray” for this particular Supreme Court finally getting it right. That clearly has not always been the case. But stay vigilant! Saving American democracy in the 21st century is still the major task at hand, and Mr. Trump has a lot of buggery inside the system now. Where are the heroes inside ourselves to save the day for real American democratic governance? Will there be a government of value left to our children as an inheritance?
