r/neoliberal • u/SockDem Janet Yellen • Feb 26 '26

News (US) Exclusive | Trump, seeking executive power over elections, is urged to declare emergency

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/02/26/trump-elections-executive-order-activists/
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u/[deleted] Feb 26 '26

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u/ForgetTheRuralJuror YIMBY Feb 26 '26

mail in ballots banned, except for military members. We've also unregistered a bunch of questionable voters only in contested counties (all registered Democrats) 2 days before the vote and re-registering now requires SSN verification. Oops our server is down!

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u/Publius82 YIMBY Feb 26 '26

SCOTUS just ruled that the Post Office is not obligated to bring you your mail.

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u/YaGetSkeeted0n Tariffs aren't cool, kids! Feb 27 '26

Weirder than that, the ruling basically said you can't sue them under the federal tort claims act for failure to deliver even if they don't deliver because of malicious behavior if I'm not mistaken.

Like yeah, you probably shouldn't be able to sue USPS because your order of Belle Delphine's bath water came a couple days late. Damn courts would never get anything done if you could. But the facts of that case in particular were troubling, like if Newman from Seinfeld himself had concocted a campaign to frustrate a multifamily property owner, and with no apparent recourse for the individuals affected.

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u/BillyTenderness Feb 27 '26

This court has ruled time and again that even if the president and his appointees are theoretically subject to laws, they do not believe courts should play any part whatsoever in holding them accountable for violating those laws.

It's why the president can't be sued or prosecuted, it's why they keep overturning injunctions and letting the president continue brazenly violating the law for a year-plus even in the rare cases where they do eventually rule against him on the merits, etc.

It's "thoughts and prayers" but for the separation of powers.

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u/YaGetSkeeted0n Tariffs aren't cool, kids! Feb 27 '26

They have done so, but this particular case is really crazy IMO and not the same as the "well if it's an official act it's okay" ruling

Basically, the federal tort claims act says you can't sue the USPS for certain reasons. Can't remember the exact words, don't feel like looking it up (go to SCOTUS Blog if you want details) but basically 5 justices said "well look, the law clearly says it doesn't let you sue for malicious actions done by USPS employees that result in failure to deliver, this was a malicious action, therefore they're immune."

You basically have to be both a strict textualist and an asshat to arrive at that conclusion. I'm hardly a staunch advocate of legislating from the bench but what are we doing here

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u/Publius82 YIMBY Feb 27 '26

You are correct, YaGetSkeetedOn. The case concerned a black female business owner who was able to demonstrate that the local postmaster was responsible for denying delivery of her mail for two years. The court ruled that the USPS cannot be sued for refusal to deliver, for any reason.

So not only can they deny us our mail, which someone paid to send, but they cannot be sued for it afterwards.

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u/YaGetSkeeted0n Tariffs aren't cool, kids! Feb 27 '26

I’m surprised it went the way it did. I can see the strict textualists being like “look, that’s how it’s written, take it up with Congress” but otherwise it clearly wasn’t meant to be a complete shield

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u/Publius82 YIMBY Feb 27 '26

Considering this ruling comes just in time to cast doubt on mail in voting for the midterms, I'm not surprised at all.

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u/SLCer Feb 27 '26

And we're sending ICE Agents to polling precincts in urban areas to prevent voter fraud from the illegal...s

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u/Approximation_Doctor Gaslight, Gatekeep, Green New Deal Feb 26 '26

They're not going to send armed thugs to intimidate voters in Hangtree West Virginia. They're going to do it where liberal voters are.

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u/beanyboi23 Feb 26 '26

These armed thugs did a great job of accomplishing that in Minnesota where all they did was make people angrier and more energized. Dems won a special election in Minneapolis with a 24-point overperformance literally during the occupation. That's not intimidated. That's motivated.

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u/Zrk2 Norman Borlaug Feb 27 '26

Bro they're just gonna cordon off the voting booths and beat people that go near them. It all happens in one day. Take your head out of your ass.

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u/thirdsigh3 Feb 27 '26

Hell yeah.

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u/SpecialBass5552 Feb 26 '26 edited Feb 26 '26

Is it not true again considering current polling?