A federal judge on Thursday blocked a key component of President Donald Trump's executive order concerning mail-in voting, prohibiting the administration from establishing a national list of voters eligible to receive mail-in ballots and from creating new regulations for Postal Service oversight of mail-in voting. This marks the third time in less than a week that a federal judge has halted actions by the Trump administration aimed at increasing federal oversight of elections.
U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani of the District of Massachusetts stated that the Constitution reserves the power to determine voter eligibility solely to the states. She ruled that the efforts outlined in Trump's March 2025 executive order exceeded his presidential authority and infringed upon states' rights to manage their elections.
"The Constitution does not grant the President any specific powers over elections," Talwani wrote. "The President ‘plays no direct role in the process’ of appointing electors, ‘nor does he have authority to control the state officials who do.’"
The ruling effectively stops the administration from creating a national list of approved voters eligible to receive mail-in ballots from the Postal Service. Talwani noted that no law enacted by Congress delegates authority over mail-in voting to the USPS and that any voting-related guidance issued by USPS is merely recommended, not binding on states.
Earlier this week, a federal judge permanently blocked an executive order provision that would have required proof of citizenship for voter registration and demanded that mail-in ballots be received by Election Day. On Monday, another federal judge blocked a Trump administration voter-screening database, deeming its system unlawful for consolidating private information of millions of Americans in an effort to purge non-citizens from voter rolls.
The White House and the Postmaster General have not yet issued public comments on Thursday's ruling. The Trump administration is expected to appeal the decision.