Federal judge blocks USPS from implementing Trump mail ballot directive
A Washington, D.C. district judge halted the Postal Service's plan to enforce a presidential order on mail-in ballots, citing a violation of a 2020 settlement with the NAACP.
A U.S. District Judge in Washington, D.C., issued an order preventing the Postal Service from carrying out President Donald Trump’s executive directive on mail-in ballot handling. The judge said the agency’s proposed rule conflicts with a 2021 settlement that required USPS to prioritize the monitoring and timely delivery of election mail.
The settlement stemmed from a 2020 lawsuit filed by the NAACP over postal policy changes that slowed mail delivery during the pandemic election. Under the settlement, the court retains oversight of USPS actions related to election mail.
Judge Emmet Sullivan wrote that the proposed rule would allow the Postal Service to refuse delivery of ballots that do not meet the executive order’s requirements, thereby violating the agreement’s provisions on election-mail prioritization.
The directive also called for individualized barcodes on ballot envelopes and for the Department of Homeland Security to use federal databases to compile voter lists, measures that raise logistical and privacy concerns.
"This ruling in favor of the NAACP’s case marks another major blow to Donald Trump’s attempt to rig the election," NAACP President Derrick Johnson said.
The Postal Service has not responded to requests for comment.
