2028 Dem hopeful slaps Trump admin with lawsuit over mail-in-voting after major SCOTUS victory

Josh Shapiro waited exactly long enough after that Supreme Court win to make it look like he wasn't just chasing headlines, then filed anyway. Twenty-three states, one lawsuit, and a governor who everyone already knows is measuring the drapes for 2028. The timing tells you most of what you need to know here. This isn't really about postal logistics.

The legal argument itself, that Congress sets federal election rules and not the executive branch, isn't crazy on its face. Separation of powers matters, and if the Postal Service is issuing directives that functionally rewrite how ballots get collected and counted, that's worth a court looking at. But it's a little rich watching Democrats discover federalism and constitutional process the moment a rule they don't like comes from a Trump administration agency. Where was this energy when states were unilaterally rewriting their own mail-ballot procedures during COVID, executive orders and all, with barely a nod to their own legislatures?

What's actually driving this is simple. Mail-in voting rules determine turnout patterns, and turnout patterns determine elections. Every side knows it, which is why both parties fight over ballot deadlines and drop-box placement like it's the whole ballgame, because in close states it basically is. Shapiro isn't wrong that Congress has a role here. He's just not raising that principle in a vacuum. He's raising it because right now it happens to work in his column.

If Republicans want to win this fight in the long run, the answer isn't hoping USPS memos hold up in court. It's getting Congress to actually legislate clear, uniform standards so nobody, on either side, gets to govern elections by agency directive and litigation whack-a-mole.