The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to let it immediately enforce a new US Postal Service rule reshaping how mail-in ballots are handled nationwide, setting up a high-stakes emergency ruling just two months before the November midterms.
The rule, issued by the Postal Service earlier this summer, requires states to redesign ballot return envelopes to carry a unique barcode and to submit voters' names and addresses through a new USPS tracking portal. The administration's solicitor general has described the changes as "modest," comparing them in court filings to routine postal regulations governing items like cremated remains and replica explosives.
A Judge's Block, and an Emergency Appeal
Voting-rights groups and several states sued to stop the rule, and US District Judge Indira Talwani sided with them. She first issued a two-week temporary restraining order in late August, then converted it into a preliminary injunction this week, concluding that rolling out the rule so close to the election "threatens disenfranchisement of millions" of voters who cast ballots by mail. Talwani also noted she had seen "no evidence relating to fraudulent mail voting" that would justify the rushed timeline — undercutting the administration's stated rationale for the rule.
The Justice Department appealed directly to the Supreme Court, arguing Talwani's order itself causes "serious irreparable harm" because several states, including North Carolina and Alabama, were due to begin mailing ballots to voters as early as September 4 — meaning any envelopes already printed to the old specifications could not be recalled once they entered the mail stream.
What Happens Next
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has given the challengers until 10 a.m. Eastern on September 8 to file their response, meaning a ruling from the full Court is not expected before then at the earliest. Talwani's injunction currently blocks the envelope and portal provisions in 23 states plus the District of Columbia, while a separate piece of the administration's mail-voting order was allowed to proceed in late August after the Supreme Court lifted a different injunction against it.
The case is the latest skirmish in a broader fight over the administration's push to tighten mail-voting rules ahead of the November 3 midterms, one that has moved through multiple district courts and appellate panels over the past several weeks with rulings going both directions. With ballots for the earliest-voting states due to go out within days, the Supreme Court's decision on the emergency application — expected sometime after the September 8 filing deadline — will determine which set of rules millions of mail voters operate under this fall.
