The Supreme Court exists to resolve disputes. It does not exist to clean up messes. That is the mood in which the Court today — in a 6–3 unsigned per curiam opinion in Alabama v. California — decided to lift an injunction against a Trump executive order on mail-in ballots in federal elections. The Court was right to conclude that a rogue district judge had gone too far in trying to stop Trump from doing anything. But the prudence of the Court staying out of the core of the dispute, regarding the mailing of ballots under Section 3 of Trump’s order, is questionable.
Let’s rewind a bit to explain what’s at stake. As I wrote when the case landed on the Court’s docket last month:
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