Overview
- The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston on Saturday declined the Justice Department’s request to lift a district judge’s injunction, so the president’s March executive order cannot be enforced in 23 states and the District of Columbia while appeals continue.
- U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani issued the injunction on June 25 after finding key parts of the order unconstitutional, including federal commands for Homeland Security to compile state voter lists and for USPS to restrict ballot delivery to state-approved lists.
- The Justice Department asked the appeals court to allow federal officials to move ahead with the overhaul and warned it might seek Supreme Court review if the injunction remains, so the legal fight is likely to reach higher courts.
- A separate but related dispute over Postal Service rulemaking is unresolved because a different appeals panel in Washington allowed USPS to continue drafting rules tying barcoded ballots to state lists while other courts have blocked those rules.
- The rulings leave election officials and voters facing uncertainty about how mail ballots will be handled this fall, since the order sought new deadlines, serialized ballot identifiers, and criminal enforcement steps that states say would disrupt ballot delivery and risk disenfranchisement.