Supreme Court denies Trump administration's request to lift injunction on USPS ballot-mail rule
The Court refused to suspend a lower-court order blocking a Postal Service rule that would change ballot-mail envelopes, leaving the rule inactive for the 2026 midterm elections.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied the Trump administration’s emergency request to lift a district-court injunction that blocks a new United States Postal Service rule governing ballot-mail envelopes. The Court said the government was unlikely to succeed on the merits of its challenge, keeping the rule barred from implementation before the 2026 midterm elections.
In a concurring opinion, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that the rule appears to fall within the Postal Service’s statutory authority, though he agreed with the majority that it should not be applied for the upcoming elections. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented, arguing that the government had shown sufficient grounds for a stay and questioning the plaintiffs’ standing.
The contested rule would require federal ballot-mail envelopes to display an election-mail logo, be scannable by high-speed equipment, and carry a unique barcode for each voter, with states also required to upload voter information to a Postal Service portal. A coalition of 24 Democratic state attorneys general sued, alleging the rule violates the Constitution’s Elections Clause, which assigns election regulation to Congress. The administration contended that the Postal Service is regulating mail, not election procedures.
Legal analysts noted that the timing of the decision leaves the rule unavailable for the 2026 election but does not preclude future litigation that could allow implementation before the 2028 presidential election.