Supreme Court Declines Texas Democrats Request For Statewide Mail-in Voting

The Supreme Court has rejected a motion to reinstate an earlier ruling to force Texas officials to deliver mail-in ballots to state voters.

The high court declined a request from the Texas Democratic Party to reverse a stay that was issued by an appeals court to halt a district court order to allow mail-in voting in Texas.

"The application to vacate stay presented to Justice Alito and by him referred to the Court is denied," the Supreme Court's ruling read.

Liberal Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, an Obama nominee, did not disagree with the high court's determination but noted that the case raises notable questions about the 26th Amendment to the Constitution.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor disagreed with the Supreme Court's decision and pointed out the decision brings up questions about the Constitution's 26th Amendment.

"This application raises weighty but seemingly novel questions regarding the Twenty-Sixth Amendment," she wrote in a statement. "I do not disagree with the decision to refrain from addressing them for the first time here, in the context of an emergency application to vacate a stay of an injunction. But I hope that the Court of Appeals will consider the merits of the legal issues in this case well in advance of the November election."

In May, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery ruled that all residents "under pandemic circumstances" were allowed to request mail-in ballots for the upcoming primary and general elections in Texas.

"For those who have recently awakened from a Rip Van Winkle sleep, the entire world is mostly without immunity and fearfully disabled," Biery wrote in his decision.

Texas Republicans appealed the decision and a panel of judges for the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court upheld the decision to allow mail-in voting.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton disagreed, saying that Biery's decision would cause "irreparable injury" to Texas "by injecting substantial confusion into the Texas voting process mere days before ballots are distributed and weeks before runoff elections."

Now, the decision from the Supreme Court will keep in place the current rules on qualifying for ballots during the Texas primary runoff election on July 14.

“We are disappointed that the Supreme Court did not weigh in now and provide needed relief and clarity for voters ahead of the primary runoff," Hinojosa said. "The case proceeds on in other filings before the U.S. Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit and therefore, hope remains that the federal courts will restore equal voting rights in time for the November elections."