The US supreme court has sided with Donald Trump in his quest to make voting by mail as difficult as possible, though the administration may still run out of time to implement its plan before the November midterms. The court's 6-3 decision, split along ideological lines, lifted an injunction placed by a Massachusetts judge in June on an executive order from the president. But a second injunction remains, and the ruling leaves the door open for further legal challenges - because nothing says 'secure elections' like a good old-fashioned legal limbo.

Trump has repeatedly compared mail-in voting to cheating, despite personally using it and despite overwhelming evidence that the system is secure - facts that have never stopped him before. In March, he ordered the creation of a 'state citizenship list' of eligible voters, requiring that mail-in ballots only go to those on the list. He also directed the justice department to prioritize investigations and prosecutions of state and local election officials who issue ballots to people deemed ineligible to vote in federal elections.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, in a blistering dissent, wrote that the decision 'needlessly injects chaos and uncertainty into the upcoming midterm elections.' Because nothing says 'calm and orderly' like a last-minute rule change on voting.

Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP, warned: 'Let this ruling be a reminder that democracy is never, ever guaranteed. We have to fight for it, we have to fight to keep it and we have to protect the rights we do have within it… they are trying to do everything they possibly can to make it difficult for you to vote.'

Meanwhile, in Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney responded to the news with a shrug, saying Trump's announcement was largely expected. 'It's not a surprise for us that the US would take some form of reprisal to our response to their unjustified tariff,' he told reporters. Carney has vowed to match American tariffs 'dollar for dollar' and said Canada would not accept any trade deal that weakens French language protections - because in the great game of international brinkmanship, nothing is more important than preserving the integrity of the subjunctive mood.