As activists say they're in coordination with the White House, a draft executive order would free up presidential power over elections. For most of our history, the Electoral College protected free and representative government. But today, dozens of states are working to weaken it—largely because too many schools no longer teach basic civics.
In this case, it is all about U.S. Postal Service v. Konan, decided February 24, 2026. The core legal issue was interpreting the Federal Tort Claims Act's "postal exception," which shields the government from suits "arising out of the loss, miscarriage, or negligent transmission of letters or postal matter." Justia. The question was whether that language covered intentional nondelivery, not just accidents or negligence.
The 5th Circuit had ruled in Konan's favor, reasoning that the case doesn't fall under the postal exception because the acts were intentional — "there was no 'loss' of mail because the mail was not destroyed or misplaced by unintentional action." The Hill, however, the Supreme Court reversed that, with Justice Thomas writing that the ordinary meanings of "loss" and "miscarriage" at the time Congress enacted the FTCA in 1946 encompassed mail that fails to arrive at its destination, regardless of whether the failure was negligent or intentional. Fox News
A notable aspect of the lineup: the majority was joined by all Republican appointees except Justice Neil Gorsuch, who joined Sotomayor's dissent, MS NOW, a cross-ideological dissent that argued the majority was stretching the statute beyond what Congress intended. As Sotomayor put it, "people lose their mail when it gets stuck behind a drawer, not when they intentionally throw it away." Balls and Strikes
The ruling doesn't completely end Konan's case — the Supreme Court vacated the lower decision and sent the case back for further consideration, without deciding whether all of Konan's claims are barred. The Hill's separate equal protection claims against individual postal workers were already allowed to proceed by the 5th Circuit.