Federal Judge Blocks Trump Mail-Ballot Restrictions Ahead of US Midterms
A federal judge has blocked the U.S. Postal Service from implementing key parts of President Donald Trump’s executive order tightening the handling of mail-in ballots, extending the restriction nationwide less than three months before the November 2026 midterm elections.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston issued the preliminary injunction on August 11. Her order prevents the Postal Service from carrying out provisions that would have required states to provide federal lists of voters eligible to receive mail ballots. Under the executive order, USPS could have refused to deliver ballots when those requirements were not met.
Talwani had already blocked major parts of the order in June following a lawsuit brought by 23 states and the District of Columbia. The latest decision goes further, preventing USPS from implementing the disputed measures anywhere in the country for the upcoming midterms.
The judge said election regulation is principally assigned by the Constitution to states and Congress rather than the executive branch. She also cited the approaching November 3 election and the risk of changing voting procedures close to Election Day.
The Trump administration has defended the measures as part of an effort to strengthen election security and voter eligibility checks. Following the ruling, the White House said the administration would continue pursuing the president’s election-security agenda.
Voting-rights organisations including the League of Women Voters and the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the policy, arguing that neither the president nor USPS has authority to impose new national election rules through the executive order.
The legal battle is not over. The administration has already asked the U.S. Supreme Court to suspend Talwani’s earlier ruling. That request remains pending.
The dispute comes at a sensitive point in the U.S. political calendar, with the November midterms set to determine control of Congress.
