Overview
- President Trump’s Justice Department filed a third emergency appeal on Sunday asking the Supreme Court to lift U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani’s injunction and allow the USPS Ballot Mail for Federal Elections rule to be enforced immediately.
- The USPS rule requires standardized envelopes, special barcodes, prior USPS approval of envelope designs, and uploading voter names, addresses and barcode data to an agency portal.
- Judge Talwani blocked mandatory implementation for the November midterms on the grounds that enforcing the rule so close to the election could cause confusion, deprive voters of ballots, and intrude on state authority over elections.
- The administration argues the requirements are modest security measures and says some states have already begun mailing ballots, while a coalition of 23 states and voting-rights groups says the rule is an unconstitutional federal overreach.
- Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson set an expedited briefing schedule for responses this week, leaving the rule effectively blocked for now and creating uncertainty that could force states to choose whether to redesign envelopes, retrain staff, or proceed with existing mailings.