A federal judge on Thursday blocked the U.S. Postal Service from implementing core parts of a new rule, adopted at President Donald Trump's direction, that would have restricted mail-in voting requirements before the November congressional elections.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston issued a temporary restraining order following a legal challenge by Democratic-led states and voting rights groups. The order came after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted earlier injunctions that had blocked Trump's plans. The rule was allowed to take effect on Wednesday.
Talwani stated that the rule risked preventing citizens from casting ballots by mail by requiring states to secure Postal Service sign-off on envelopes and upload voter information into an electronic portal. The judge found that the agency presented no evidence of fraudulent mail-in voting to necessitate such a rule, which she said likely violated the U.S. Constitution's allocation of election administration authority to the states.
"USPS's interest in correcting an unsubstantiated problem through likely unconstitutional means is dwarfed by the overwhelming risk of pervasive disenfranchisement of citizens who need access to mail ballots in order to vote," Talwani wrote in her ruling.
The temporary restraining order will remain in place for 14 days, during which Talwani will consider a longer-term preliminary injunction. A hearing on that matter is scheduled for September 3.
The ACLU, representing the voting rights groups, called the order a pause on an "unlawful power grab that would sow chaos and confusion for the millions of voters who depend on mail ballots."
The USPS issued the rule to implement an executive order signed by Trump in March. Trump has repeatedly promoted unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election and has called for tighter rules on mail-in voting.
Under the now-blocked rule, states would have been required to supply the USPS with lists of mail ballot recipients. All outbound and return ballot envelopes would have needed unique barcodes, and the USPS could have refused to deliver ballots that did not comply or were associated with voters not on the provided lists.
All 50 states permit some form of mail-in voting. In the 2024 election cycle, the USPS processed nearly 100 million ballots, with approximately 30% of voters nationwide casting their ballots by mail, according to state data.
Plaintiffs in the legal challenge argued that the federal restrictions would disenfranchise voters and place undue burdens on states, requiring them to purchase new envelopes and equipment, establish new systems, and train staff in the weeks leading up to the election.