How legal battles across the country could complicate the midterms

By — Liz Landers Liz Landers By — Ali Schmitz Ali Schmitz Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-legal-battles-across-the-country-could-complicate-the-midterms Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Audio As President Trump attempts to wield greater power over election administration ahead of the midterms, dozens of legal battles are currently underway across the country. Their outcomes could shape how elections are run this fall. Liz Landers discussed more with Ben Ginsberg. He has spent decades working as a Republican election lawyer, including on the landmark 2000 Bush v. Gore dispute. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. Geoff Bennett: As President Trump pushes for a greater federal role in election administration ahead of the midterms, dozens of legal challenges are moving through the courts. And their outcome could shape this fall's elections. Our Liz Landers has more on the constitutional questions now before judges. Liz Landers: In the last few days, there have been a number of judicial rulings related to election cases across the country. On Wednesday, a judge in Washington blocked the U.S. Postal Service from changing its delivery of mail ballots. This came after the president signed an executive order requiring states to provide lists of eligible voters that intend to vote by mail. The judge this week said that order was not legal based on a 2021 agreement the agency struck with the NAACP. I'm joined now by Ben Ginsberg. He spent decades working as a Republican election lawyer, including on the landmark Bush v. Gore dispute after the 2000 election. Ben, thank you for joining "News Hour." Ben Ginsberg, Republican Election Attorney: Thank you, Liz. Nice to be here. Liz Landers: Let's start with that mail vote ruling yesterday about the president's executive order that he signed in March, which that judge determined is not legal. The White House and the president keep losing when these election executive orders are challenged. How much authority does the president and executive branch have over election administration? Ben Ginsberg: Well, according to the courts, not as much as they think they have. The Constitution of the United States is very clear that the time, place, and manner, in other words, how to conduct an election, is up to the states. And there's a provision in the Constitution that gives Congress the ability to do nationwide rules in some cases and rules for their own federal elections in others. Nowhere in the Constitution is there any mention of executive authority, the president's authority. And that's why he's losing so many of these cases in so many areas. Liz Landers: It seems possible that the Postal Service could try to skirt this in some way, based on statements that the postmaster general has made in recent weeks. What's your advi