Supreme Court pauses lower court ruling on Trump's mail voting order as hurdles loom

President Trump holds up an executive order calling to restrict mail-in voting in the White House in March. Alex Wong/Getty Images hide caption

The Supreme Court has paused a lower court's ruling that blocked key directives from President Trump's executive order to restrict mail-in voting for this fall's midterm election in about two dozen states and Washington, D.C.

But with the start of absentee voting for the midterms just weeks away, legal and practical hurdles loom over whether the U.S. Postal Service and other federal agencies can finish carrying out Trump's directives.

Released Monday, the order marks the latest court action in the legal fight over Trump's March order — one of many efforts he has made to try to exert control over how elections are run.

As part of a separate but related lawsuit, the U.S. Postal Service remains blocked from following Trump's directives under a nationwide ruling released Aug. 11 by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston.

In June, Talwani issued an earlier ruling that blocked key parts of Trump's order in the 23 mainly Democratic-led states, plus Washington, D.C., that sued the administration.

The Supreme Court did not weigh in on the legality of Trump's executive order, which has so far not directly affected eligible absentee voters' option to cast ballots by mail.

"The Court's disposition of this application does not mean that any measure taken by the Government to implement the Order will necessarily be lawful. On that score, time will tell," the high court said in an unsigned order for the lawsuit brought by almost two dozen states and Washington, D.C.