New York Times: Trump can’t postpone the election. But the courts will help shape how Americans vote this fall.

Moving the date of the general election would require legislation enacted by Congress, signed by the president, and would be subject to challenge in the courts. To call that unlikely would be an understatement.

Even if all of that happened, there would not be much flexibility in choosing an alternate election date: The Constitution mandates the new Congress to be sworn in on Jan. 3, and the new president’s term to begin on Jan. 20.

But while the date of the presidential election is set by federal law, the procedures for voting are generally controlled at the state level. For election lawyers, Mr. Trump’s tweet on Thursday underscored the stakes of the voting litigation playing out in courts across the country that will help shape how Americans vote this fall.

In interviews with several nonpartisan lawyers, all of them agreed that the president had no authority to delay the election. But Mr. Trump’s mere suggestion of changing the election date added yet another complication to an increasingly contentious and litigious election year.

As the coronavirus pandemic forced many states to shift how they held their primary elections, lawsuits backed by Republicans, Democrats and nonpartisan voting rights groups flooded district and circuit courts. They battled over changes like expanded mail-in voting, consolidated polling locations and extended polling hours.

Decisions over how the general election will be conducted need to be sorted out now, said Sylvia Albert, the director of Voting and Elections at Common Cause, a voting rights group.

“The key is not waiting for November,” Ms. Albert said. “The point of those lawsuits is to establish the policies and procedures that are going to be used in November so there isn’t going to be confusion on the day of the election.”