Durbin Statement On Supreme Court’s Temporary Order On President Trump’s Attempted Mail-In Voting Restrictions

Durbin Statement On Supreme Court's Temporary Order On President Trump's Attempted Mail-In Voting Restrictions

CHICAGO - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released the following statement after the Supreme Court temporarily permitted President Trump to move forward with portions of an executive order that seek to restrict mail-in voting while litigation on the merits of the case continues. The Supreme Court stayed a lower court injunction that had blocked provisions of the executive order in 23 states and the District of Columbia, though an injunction in a related case brought by voter protection organizations currently remains in place.

"The President is dead set on attacking Americans' right to vote and undermining our democracy by making baseless claims about 'rigged' elections, demanding unreasonable voter registration requirements, restricting mail-in voting, and threatening to unconstitutionally nationalize our elections.

"Yesterday's Supreme Court order is a temporary procedural win for President Trump as he attempts to pursue these lawless goals-but it doesn't change the reality that the Constitution empowers states to run our elections, and the rule of law must prevail as this litigation continues. The right to vote is fundamental to our nation's democracy, and President Trump's efforts to chip away at that fundamental right must ultimately be rejected."

As Justice Sotomayor noted in her dissent to the order, "[Yesterday's] decision does not address whether the President's attempts to interfere with States' administration of the November 2026 elections are lawful. Nor does it suggest that the Executive Branch has any constitutional or statutory authority to implement the President's directives. Instead, [it] merely postpones adjudication of those challenges."

Earlier this year, Durbin joined U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Gary Peters (D-MI) to introduce the Absentee and Mail Voter Protection Act (Absentee MVP Act), which would block President Trump's illegal and unconstitutional executive order attacking mail and absentee ballots and protect the right to vote by mail.

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