A federal judge has for the second time blocked the Trump administration's plan to reform election rules, which aimed to restrict mail-in voting.
District Judge Indira Talwani on Thursday evening ordered a 14-day pause on the U.S. Postal Service's (USPS) new mail-in ballot rules, just hours after the agency announced they had officially taken effect.
The ruling is the latest development in a legal clash stemming from President Trump's efforts to curb mail-in voting, which is heating up as the country heads toward the November midterm elections that will determine control of Congress and the Senate.
Nearly a third of American voters cast their ballots by mail. The first ballots for the midterm elections are expected to be sent out within about a week.
Under the new rules, states must submit approved voter lists and comply with new ballot formats before USPS can transport ballots. These restrictions were enacted Thursday after the Supreme Court allowed them to take effect.
Judge Talwani wrote in her statement that states "do not have the time or budget" to redesign ballots, update election systems, or train staff on the new USPS portal ahead of the upcoming election.
The fight dates back to March, when President Trump ordered the Postal Service to withhold ballots unless states provided approved voter lists and adhered to new formatting requirements.
Voting rights groups and Democratic officials filed suit, arguing that only states and Congress—not the president—have the authority to set election rules. Judge Talwani agreed and blocked the rules this summer.
On Monday, the conservative-majority Supreme Court struck down that earlier ruling on a technicality, saying the initial legal challenge was filed too early. As soon as the rules formally took effect, Democratic officials and voting rights groups swiftly refiled their lawsuit, giving Judge Talwani the basis to issue a second block in an overnight ruling.
In a separate development, the attorneys general of 24 states filed a new lawsuit this week with a similar core argument: only the Senate and Congress, not the president, have constitutional authority to set election rules.
A hearing on the refiled case is scheduled for September 3, just as ballots begin to go out. That timeline means Judge Talwani's next ruling or an appellate court decision could take effect either as voting starts or shortly thereafter.
