Indira Talwani blocked a Postal Service regulation Thursday that would have pushed federal control deeper into mail-in ballots before the midterm elections. The ruling keeps part of Donald Trump’s election order on hold for at least 14 days.
Talwani wrote that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits. She also said states “have neither time nor funds” to meet the rule’s demands before the 2026 midterms.
Postal Service ballot rule
The blocked regulation was meant to carry out a key part of Trump’s executive order on mail-in ballots. It would have required the Postal Service to track mail-in ballots and could have led to rejection of ballots from people not on a federal list of eligible voters. Indira Talwani blocks Trump’s mail-ballot order lays out the earlier phase of the same dispute.
Talwani, based in Boston, ruled in cases brought by the League of Women Voters and other groups, along with a coalition of states. Her written order said the regulation is most likely unlawful because the president cannot insert the federal government into elections without express authorization from Congress.
Talwani’s written ruling
In the order, Talwani said the court finds plaintiffs likely to succeed on the merits of their claims. She also wrote that the government had offered no evidence regarding fraudulent absentee or mail-in voting, and that the effort to correct what she called an unsubstantiated problem through likely unconstitutional means carried an overwhelming risk of pervasive disenfranchisement.
She added that compliance with what the administration was asking before the 2026 midterms would be “practically impossible,” using the same reasoning to block the rule from taking effect now. The order leaves the Postal Service measure on hold while the litigation moves ahead.
Letitia James response
Letitia James said after the ruling, “This rule is a clear attempt by the federal government to interfere in elections it has no power to control.” She added, “Today, a federal court halted it before this administration could wreak havoc on our elections.”
The Trump administration could try to rush the case to the Supreme Court. That path is sharper after Monday, when the Supreme Court lifted a different injunction in a similar case brought by California and 22 other states, without weighing in on whether the underlying proposal or the Postal Service regulation is lawful.
A separate part of Trump’s order remains in effect: the provision directing the Department of Homeland Security to compile lists of eligible voters and send them to states. Judge Indira Talwani orders USPS response on mail ballot rule tracks the next step if the dispute reaches the high court again.
