Washington, 25 August 2026 (dpa/MIA) - The US Supreme Court on Monday lifted a temporary block on President Donald Trump's plans to tighten rules for mail-in voting, just over two months before the congressional midterm elections.

While a final ruling on the measures is still pending, the decision allows the administration to press ahead with its plans for now. It remained unclear what the ruling would mean for the November 3 elections, and further legal challenges are possible.

Trump wants the changes implemented before the vote. The Republican president says they are intended to prevent election fraud, while critics accuse him of seeking to disadvantage Democratic voters, who are somewhat more likely than Republicans to vote by mail.

A court in Boston had temporarily blocked the planned rules with an injunction and later extended the ban to all 50 states. It also ruled that the administration did not have the authority to regulate elections, a power that in the United States lies primarily with the states.

The Supreme Court in Washington did not rule on whether Trump's mail voting plans are constitutional, but lifted the injunction. The decision was backed by the court's six conservative justices, while the three more Democratic-leaning justices dissented.

Trump issued an order in late March requiring the US Postal Service (USPS) to send mail voting documents only to people who appear on voter lists previously drawn up by the states. The postal service would therefore shift from simply delivering election materials to playing a role in checking eligibility as part of the voting process.

The judge at the lower court in Boston had stressed that the status quo should be maintained ahead of the upcoming election. She said there was increasingly little time to inform voters about how the tighter rules could affect them if they wanted to vote by mail. Trump's order was causing confusion and risked creating chaos, she said. 

The lawsuit was brought by non-partisan organizations that say they aim to increase voter turnout.

About a third of the Senate and the entire House of Representatives are due to be elected in the November 3 midterms.