Federal judge indefinitely blocks Trump’s mail-in ballot rules
A federal judge in Massachusetts indefinitely blocked a White House executive order on Friday that would drastically restrict citizens' ability to vote by mail just weeks before California is set to issue ballots ahead of the November midterms.
Last month, Attorney General Rob Bonta and 24 other states sued after the Supreme Court rolled back a previous court ruling pausing President Donald Trump's March executive mandate ordering states to create citizenship voter lists and for the U.S. Postal Service to restrict mail-in ballots.
On Friday, Massachusetts District Court Judge Indira Talwani indefinitely extended a previous ruling from August 27 that blocked those rules from going into effect for 14 days.
"The chaos engendered by the Final Rule's immediate deadlines is significantly interfering with Plaintiff Organizations' mission to provide its members with accurate and reliable information about how to vote, including by mail," Talwani, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, wrote. "Plaintiff Organizations do not know whether to advise their members to vote by mail, despite legal entitlement, due to the high risk of disenfranchisement."
On Tuesday, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, said in a letter to Postmaster General David Steiner that his office had received a whistleblower complaint accusing the agency of moving forward with a "rushed and potentially unlawful" plan to carry out Trump's executive order despite the court order blocking it.
Talwani's order came a day after she oversaw a hearing to consider the request from Bonta and the other attorneys general for a preliminary injunction.
"We've now secured longer-term relief that will keep the USPS changes blocked while our case moves forward," Bonta said in a statement Friday. "We will continue to take all steps to stop the Trump Administration from trampling on voting rights and restricting mail voting."
Talwani's order is likely not the final word on the matter. On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice asked the Supreme Court to immediately allow it to enforce the new Postal Service rules.
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson requested that the plaintiffs respond by Tuesday.
