U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks during an event at the General Motors Milford Proving Ground in Milford, Michigan, U.S., July 27, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci
President Donald Trump's Department of Justice may be angling for a quiet victory at the Supreme Court with its latest bombshell move, according to one expert.
Elie Honig, CNN's senior legal analyst and a former federal prosecutor, sounded the alarm on Monday's broadcast of "The Lead" after the DOJ appealed a lower court order blocking the administration's efforts to severely limit mail-in ballots with less than 100 days to go before the midterms.
"First of all, thecourts have made clear time andagain that you are not supposedto mess with the rules aroundelections if we get too closeto elections, and now we arereally close to elections," Honig said.
Honig noted that even though the Supreme Court is out of session, there is still a backdoor available to the Trump administration.
"So, the Supreme Court isout of session now, but they arestill considering cases on whatwe sometimes call the emergencydocket or the shadow docket," Honig said. "It takes five of the nine justices to intervene in a case off of the emergency docket; no matter what the Supreme Court does, they're going to be involved because if they turn this case down, then the lower court, the Court of Appeals ruling stands, which blocks this executive order. That's option one."
"Option two, if the court decidesto get involved, then they mightagree thatthis is causing chaos and [is] against the Constitution, orthey might overturn it," Honig said before positing another worrisome possibility.
"Theymight say, 'Go ahead. You can try to move forward with this.' Butif that's the case, thenwe're going to have chaos," Honig said.