WASHINGTON, D.C. — With some states having already mailed their ballots for the November 2026 election, and others set to do so in the coming weeks, a federal judge has blocked the U.S. Postal Service from implementing any portion of its new Ballot Mail Rule. The Court held that the Postal Service likely acted outside the authority Congress gave it when it moved to implement President Trump’s Executive Order restricting mail voting. In the Court’s words, the “key portions of the Rule exceed any conception of the outer bounds” of USPS’s authority.
Judge Carl J. Nichols, a Trump appointee on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, granted a preliminary injunction against the rule sought by Elias Law Group attorneys on behalf of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the Democratic Governors Association (DGA), Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
In an important victory for voters before they cast ballots this fall, Judge Nichols’ order goes even further than a previous ruling from a federal court in Massachusetts blocking parts of the Ballot Mail Rule. The order in the Massachusetts case barred the Postal Service from rejecting mail ballots based on noncompliance with its rule, but it allowed USPS to implement other aspects of the Mail Ballot Rule and states to voluntarily comply with it. Judge Nichols’ order blocks the entire rule, effectively preventing Republican-led states from cooperating with the Postal Service to carry out President Trump’s voter suppression agenda.
“Congress never gave the Postal Service the power to change election rules or decide who gets a mail ballot,” said Elias Law Group Partner Lali Madduri. “The Trump administration is trying to seize control over the voting process, but multiple federal courts have now stepped in to block the Ballot Mail Rule. This order is a massive victory for our clients, the DSCC, DCCC, DNC, DGA, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. With ballots already in the mail, this order protects millions of Americans from a voter suppression scheme the Postal Service had no authority to impose.”
The new rule required every federal ballot envelope to carry a USPS-approved design and a unique barcode, required state election officials to give the Postal Service names and addresses of all of its mail voters for inclusion on new Mail-in and Absentee Participant Lists, and authorized the Postal Service to refuse to deliver mail ballots to voters who do not appear on its lists.
The court found that the Postal Service has no authority to impose new election procedures on state officials, build a data collection system for mail voters, or refuse to transmit lawful mail.
Read the Court’s order here.
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