The Department of Justice (DOJ) asked the Supreme Court on Monday to reinstate President Donald Trump's executive order aimed at tightening the rules for voting by mail, considering that the blockade imposed by lower courts was premature and hinders the preparation of the midterm legislative elections.

The petition was presented by Attorney General D. John Sauer, who maintained that the federal agencies in charge of applying the presidential directive have not yet defined how they will implement the measures, so, in his opinion, the courts should not have intervened before there were concrete actions.

“And the court order is especially indefensible because the agencies are still deliberating how (if at all) to implement the Order, but the district court decided in advance that whatever the agencies decide to do will necessarily be illegal,” Sauer wrote in the document submitted to the high court.

The Republican administration argued that a quick decision is necessary so that the United States Postal Service (USPS), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other agencies have enough time to implement any changes before the November elections. Nearly two dozen Democratic-governed states and the District of Columbia sued the Administration, arguing that the measure seeks voter suppression.

Although the White House defends the initiative as part of its effort to curb electoral fraud and require proof of citizenship, electoral authorities and courts maintain that there is no evidence of widespread fraud in the postal voting system.

The dispute reaches the Supreme Court again

The executive order, signed by Trump earlier this year, directs DHS to compile a list of verified U.S. citizens eligible to vote and directs the USPS to develop stricter rules for states that use mail-in voting. Last month, federal judge Indira Talwani suspended part of the order, concluding that the president does not have the authority to modify essential aspects of the electoral administration without authorization from Congress.

A panel of the First Circuit Court of Appeals later refused to lift that suspension. Sauer warned that, if the blockade continues, even an eventual government victory would come too late to implement the changes before the electoral process. “This problem is even more pressing because any decision of this type will have to be implemented well before November,” he argued.

The request represents the 35th emergency petition filed by the Trump administration before the Supreme Court. While its critics maintain that this high number reflects presidential decisions that face legal obstacles, the Department of Justice assures that it responds to a growing intervention by federal courts in the powers of the Executive Branch.

The case was initially assigned to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, in charge of emergency matters from the First Circuit, although it is usual for the full Supreme Court to decide these types of requests. The plaintiff states will have until next Monday to present their written response.