Trump Administration Seeks Supreme Court Relief Over Mail-Ballot Restrictions

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to overturn a temporary restraining order issued by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston. Talwani had blocked new Postal Service restrictions on mail-in ballots for the 2026 midterm elections, finding that compliance would cause “irreparable harm” and be “practically impossible” with the election only two months away. The Court set a September 8 deadline for a response.

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In March, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing the United States Postal Service and the Department of Homeland Security to screen mail ballots for fraud. The plan required states to upload voter-eligibility lists to a federal portal; USPS could then refuse delivery of ballots for voters not on those lists or whose envelopes failed new design standards.

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A coalition of 23 states and the District of Columbia sued, arguing the order infringes the Constitution’s allocation of election authority to the states. Judge Talwani granted a preliminary injunction, halting the rule for the 2026 election.

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The Supreme Court has already weighed related mail-ballot issues. In June, it ruled 5-4 in *Watson v. Republican National Committee* that federal law does not bar states from counting postmarked ballots that arrive after Election Day. Justice Amy Coney Barrett authored the majority; Justice Samuel Alito dissented, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and in part Brett Kavanaugh.

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On August 24, the Court lifted an earlier injunction against the executive order. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.

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• Sotomayor noted the Court’s ruling did not address whether the administration’s actions to influence state election administration are lawful.

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• Jackson warned the decision injects “chaos and uncertainty” into the midterms.

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• Sauer argued Talwani’s order interferes with USPS efforts to prevent voter fraud and that states cannot claim exemption from postal regulations.

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• Velchik said the central legal issue is whether Talwani has authority to block the rule.

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• Lakin (ACLU) asserted the administration created the emergency it now seeks to remedy and that Talwani’s order should remain in place.

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• Becker: “The time to implement significant changes to how we run our elections for the 2026 midterms has long since passed.”

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• Hasen warned that a district-court preliminary injunction could moot the Supreme Court appeal.

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• Douglas called the president’s claim of authority “exceedingly weak.”

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• A whistleblower disclosure, cited by Senator Richard Blumenthal, alleged the USPS built the tracking portal in about three and a half months without standard testing and that a single barcode error could flag an entire batch of ballots for rejection.

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• The August 24 Supreme Court order lifted an earlier injunction but left the constitutional question surrounding the executive order unsettled.

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• No state supporting the rule has confirmed it will actually submit voter data to the portal, creating uncertainty about the rule’s practical effect.

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• The whistleblower’s claims about the portal’s testing and batch-rejection mechanism remain unverified beyond the disclosed report.

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The Supreme Court has set a September 8 deadline for challengers to file a response; a decision is unlikely before the middle of next week. Litigation is expected to continue through the district court, the First Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court throughout the fall. The imminent mailing of ballots in North Carolina and Alabama on September 9 adds urgency to the legal timeline.

Newsweek