Judge Again Blocks Postal Service Rule on Mail Ballots for 14 Days

A federal judge on Thursday issued a 14-day temporary restraining order that stops the Postal Service from enforcing a new rule built on President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting mail voting, Fox News reported. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani set a hearing for Sept. 3. The order lands about a week before the first mail ballots are expected to go out for the November midterm elections.

The rule, published by the Postal Service late the previous Friday, would require states to use a uniform envelope style for mail ballots and to give the agency a list of voters eligible to receive them, according to PBS NewsHour’s account of the Associated Press reporting. Fox News described it as barring the Postal Service from accepting outbound mail ballots unless states submit required recipient information through a Postal Service portal and the envelopes meet barcode and design requirements. The restraining order is the second time a court has blocked the directive, Fox reported. The Washington Examiner described the order as keeping the rules from taking effect for the Nov. 3 elections while it lasts.

The legal path has been tangled. On Monday the Supreme Court, in a procedural ruling, found that Talwani had acted too soon in an earlier case because the Postal Service had not yet finalized how it would carry out the order; it did not decide whether the order is lawful. Talwani then lifted her earlier injunction, saying she was “compelled” to do so, though she called the order “likely unconstitutional” and warned it could cause “chaos,” PBS reported. She also found that the administration violated her separate injunction while drafting the new rule but took no action against the government.

About two dozen Democratic-led states, including New York, filed a new lawsuit on Wednesday seeking to block the order, and the League of Women Voters asked for a new court order. In the new ruling, Talwani wrote that “plaintiff states have neither time nor funds to design new mail ballots,” Fox reported. New York Attorney General Letitia James called the rule “a clear attempt by the federal government to interfere in elections it has no power to control.”

The administration’s case is that the rule is a modest safeguard. White House spokesperson Lauren Bis told the Associated Press that the Postal Service’s proposals are “commonsense measures that protect the security of mail-in ballots,” according to PBS. Fox News reported that the Postal Service says the rule does not decide who is eligible to vote or compare submissions against state voter rolls, and that states keep control over who may vote by mail. Trump has long criticized mail voting.

A broader election bill has stalled in the Senate, PBS noted. The Sept. 3 hearing will show whether Talwani extends the pause or lets the rule take effect.