The Trump administration filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court on Sunday seeking to enforce an executive order requiring states to verify voter citizenship before mailing federal ballots.

The executive order directs the Postal Service to confirm that recipients of mail-in ballots are U.S. citizens by cross-referencing voter rolls against Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration databases. States that decline to comply face potential loss of federal election funding.

Legal Challenge and Court Responses

Nearly two dozen states and Washington D.C. filed lawsuits immediately after the order was signed, arguing it constitutes voter suppression. A federal judge in Massachusetts initially blocked the measure, then lifted the block, then reimposed it after a divided appeals court decision.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, assigned the application as the circuit justice for the First Circuit, declined to grant an immediate stay. Instead, she requested that plaintiff states submit responses within seven days.

The Administration’s Position

The administration argues that citizenship verification is a straightforward election integrity measure. Federal data requests have identified 270,000 noncitizen registrations across four cooperating states, according to administration officials.

New Jersey discovered 6,600 noncitizens registered to vote, with approximately 400 who cast ballots in previous elections. Alaska began mailing verification letters to suspicious registrations and identified roughly 3,000 requiring review.

What Comes Next

The full Supreme Court will now review the emergency application as ballots continue going out without citizenship verification in most states. Six justices on the court were appointed by Republican presidents.

The administration contends that executive authority over Postal Service handling of federal election mail is well-established in law. A decision is expected before widespread ballot distribution occurs.