A NOTE FROM THE PRODUCER
Jake Kaplan is the Supervising Producer of the Insider podcast.
The Supreme Court has blocked the Trump administration from imposing new restrictions on voting by mail for the 2026 midterm elections. The justices rejected the administration’s request to lift a freeze on USPS rules governing mail ballots, concluding that the government was unlikely to succeed on the merits. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented.
On a new episode of the Insider podcast, Preet Bharara and Joyce Vance break down why the justices blocked the administration’s mail-in voting restrictions for the midterms and what the decision could mean for future elections.
Despite voting with the majority this time, Joyce says Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s concurring opinion signals he might support the administration’s position in the future: “I take him seriously when he says that his vote here is only for the 2026 election.”
Preet also highlights the irony of Republican efforts to block faster counting of mailed ballots: “There have been efforts to mandate the counting of mail-in votes...and get them all tallied up, so you don’t have this disparity between the count on election night and the count some days later where red turns to blue or blue turns to red. [But] those have been defeated by Republicans in various jurisdictions in a pretty cynical fashion.”
Listen to the episode and comment below with your thoughts and questions. Thank you for being a member of our community here on Substack. If you’re not yet a paying subscriber, you can now listen to a free excerpt from the show. For access to the full analysis, upgrade your subscription.
Stay Informed,
Jake
Photo by Alex Wong via Getty Images
