A federal judge in Boston on Tuesday blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting postal voting nationwide, preventing the U.S. Postal Service from implementing restrictions that would have limited mail ballot delivery to voters on pre-approved lists before the November midterm elections.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani issued a preliminary injunction that bars USPS from carrying out the order signed by Trump on March 31, 2026. The ruling expands on an earlier June decision by the same judge that had blocked the order’s implementation in 23 states and Washington, D.C.
In her order, Talwani found that Trump’s executive order is likely unconstitutional and that voting rights groups challenging it are likely to prevail in their lawsuit. She noted that throughout multiple court proceedings, the Trump administration has declined to defend the order’s constitutionality, instead asking courts to delay judicial review.
The executive order directed states to provide USPS with lists of voters requesting mail ballots. USPS would then develop new envelopes with barcodes tied to individual voters and refuse to deliver ballots to or from people not on those pre-approved lists. The Trump administration has defended the order as a way to prevent illegal voting by non-U.S. citizens, though studies have shown such fraud is extremely rare.
Talwani emphasized in her ruling that the Trump administration provided no evidence that blocking the order would harm the public or jeopardize the integrity of mail-in voting. “The record is devoid of any evidentiary support of illegal or fraudulent absentee voting,” she wrote.
The judge cited the urgency of the situation, noting that less than 90 days remain before the November 3, 2026 midterm elections and millions of Americans who rely on mail voting need clarity about how they will cast ballots. The Justice Department has faced a losing streak in federal courts over voter-related litigation, with multiple judges blocking administration efforts to restrict voting access.
The Trump administration has appealed to the Supreme Court, which accepted briefing on an emergency stay request and could issue a ruling at any time. Meanwhile, federal appeals courts in Washington, D.C. have split on the issue, with one panel allowing the government to continue implementing the order in some contexts while another upheld Talwani’s earlier block.
This is the second time Talwani has blocked the order. In June, after a coalition of voting rights groups including the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts challenged the directive, she initially declined to grant an injunction because a separate D.C. judge’s block was still in effect. When an appeals court later stayed that decision, Talwani reconsidered and issued the June ruling covering the 23 states that had sued.
Sources
- NPR — Judge Indira Talwani’s nationwide preliminary injunction on August 11, 2026, blocking USPS implementation of Trump’s mail voting order
- Democracy Docket — Details of the ruling, the executive order’s provisions, and the Trump administration’s failure to defend its constitutionality in court
- The Brennan Center for Justice — Analysis showing Trump issued both 2025 and 2026 executive orders attempting to restrict mail voting, and that the orders lack constitutional authority
