Mail voting live updates: Judge weighs fate of Trump’s anti-voting executive order

10:30am

Judge says USPS hasn’t explained how exactly its rule would work

In a discussion on the potential impact of USPS’s election mail restrictions, Talwani tells the DOJ and state attorneys that the Postal Service has failed to explain to the court exactly how its rule would work in practice.

Growing increasingly frustrated, the judge says the DOJ didn’t submit a declaration to the court detailing, for example, how many ballots could be potentially affected by USPS’s new requirements. “I have very little from you,” she tells the DOJ and state attorneys.

On the other hand, she notes plaintiffs have warned in several declarations that millions of ballots could go undelivered if USPS forces states to comply with the rule.

10:15AM

Texas argues USPS can adopt rules preempting state law

Talwani pushes back on Texas’ claim that Congress allowed USPS to adopt rules on mail ballots to preempt state laws. Voting organizations go further, arguing that only Congress can determine when USPS may not accept a class of mail unless specific conditions are met — which Congress has not done in this case.

10:10AM

Talwani is wise to the government’s delaying strategy

Talwani seems to want to prevent DOJ from drawing things out on appeal if she rules against them. It suggests not only that she’s likely to find for the plaintiffs, but also that she’s very aware that delay is at the heart of the administration’s strategy. 

She asks whether, if she rules for the plaintiffs, DOJ will add additional arguments on appeal, not addressed by her. If that happens, she says, the appeals court could send it back down to her, drawing things out further.

“It’s a time question,” Talwani says. “And I think we all understand a time crunch here.”

10:05Am

Judge Talwani says she will not rule from the bench

Talwani says she will not rule from the bench, so we likely should not expect a ruling today. However, she added that she’s committed to “getting something out as quickly as I can.”

Correction: The headline of this post originally reported that Judge Talwani said she will not rule today. In fact, she said she wouldn’t rule from the bench.

10:00AM

Plaintiffs go after DOJ’s ‘cremated remains’ comparison

In an earlier filing, the DOJ compared mail ballots to cremated remains or fake explosive devices, arguing that the postal service is authorized to create rules for delivering sensitive materials. 

But a lawyer for the League of Women Voters noted that in those cases, unlike here, Congress had passed a statute authorizing the changes.

“You’re saying, for those two being adopted by rule, they were preceded by statute?” Talwani asked.

“Exactly,” the lawyer responded, before citing the relevant rules and statutes. 

9:50AM

DOJ claims pro-voting groups can’t challenge USPS’s rule

Talwani took issue with the DOJ’s argument that a coalition of voting-rights organizations led by the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts lacks standing to challenge USPS’s new mail voting rule.

If the groups don’t have standing, it would likely mean USPS could force states that are not suing to comply with its mail-ballot mandates. 

9:45AM

Only one state has said it can comply with order, plaintiffs note

To hammer the case that states will struggle to comply with the order in time to smoothly run their elections, a lawyer for the League of Women Voters notes that the Trump administration has received a declaration from only one state, Alabama, saying that they’re likely to be able to comply. 

“It’s really notable that they haven’t gotten statements from others,” says the lawyer.

9:40AM

DOJ (again) argues it can run out the clock for the midterms

Talwani pushed back on the DOJ and red states’ argument that, even after a final rule is published, pro-voters must first seek relief with the Postal Regulatory Commission — an executive adjudicatory branch that has up to 90 days to respond. In other words, the DOJ is arguing that they can run out the clock on parties seeking relief from the impacts of USPS’s mail voting restrictions ahead of the midterms.

9:30AM

Trump DOJ says it will immediately appeal to SCOTUS if judge blocks USPS rule 

At the outset of the hearing, Michael Velchik, an attorney with the DOJ’s Civil Division, told Judge Talwani that the department will immediately appeal to the Supreme Court if she grants a preliminary injunction against USPS’s rule.

That appeal would mark yet another emergency stay application from the DOJ in litigation over the rule and Trump’s executive order. Though once considered extraordinary legal relief, Trump’s DOJ has repeatedly asked for, and received, emergency stays from the Supreme Court to vacate or lift lower court orders barring certain actions by the president. 

Last week, the Court’s conservative-appointed majority approved the department’s emergency appeal of Talwani’s previous permanent block against Trump’s executive order.

9:15AM

What does the new USPS rule on mail voting actually do? 

USPS’s new rule largely does what Trump demanded in his order. It requires state election officials to alter the envelopes they use to send voters mail ballots and assign each envelope a unique barcode to track those ballots.

Most crucially, the rule also requires states to submit a list that includes the names and addresses of all people who requested a mail ballot for the upcoming election.
If state and local election officials don’t comply with those requirements, USPS has said it would refuse to mail ballots to voters in those states and localities.

The Department of Justice and USPS have claimed the rule is simply an attempt to standardize election mail. But voting experts and Post Office officials have argued that, in practice, the requirements give the postal agency newfound authority to control state election procedures and collect information on voters.

9:00am

‘All Rise’

Reporter Jim Saksa is officially in Courtroom 9 of the Moakley courthouse. Here’s the latest from Jim: Roughly 35 people are here in Courtroom 9. The Moakley courthouse looks over Boston Harbor and the view just outside the courtroom here on the 3rd floor would be lovely… if it weren’t a damp, gray morning.  

A handful of women from Delta Sigma Theta are here, dressed in the sorority’s red. DST are plaintiffs along with the League of Women Voters Massachusetts. The Black sorority was founded amid the suffrage movement and, while nonpartisan, cares about voting rights.

8:30am

What to know about Trump’s executive order attacking mail voting

USPS’s mail voting restrictions at the heart of today’s hearing directly stem from a sweeping executive order Trump signed in the Oval Office in March.

In the order, he directed USPS to refuse to deliver ballots to voters in states that do not comply with a swath of new demands, including the requirement that election officials give the federal government a list of all voters who intend to vote by mail in the upcoming election.

Trump attempted to justify the restrictions by falsely claiming his political enemies use mail voting to sway elections.

“Cheating on mail-in voting is legendary. It’s horrible,” he said while signing. “Democrats want to use it for cheating.”

It was Trump’s second attempt to control elections by decree. He signed a separate anti-voting order in 2025 that multiple federal courts swiftly blocked.

8:00am

Federal judge to rule in pivotal challenge to Trump’s attack on mail voting

This morning’s hearing may be the most consequential moment yet in the months-long legal fight over Trump’s attempt to restrict mail voting before the midterms. Judge Indira Talwani — who has already blocked the rule twice, calling it “unconstitutional” — will hear combined arguments from 24 Democratic-led states and a coalition of voting rights groups seeking to permanently stop USPS from requiring pre-approved ballot envelopes and voter lists. With fewer than 70 days until Election Day and a recent whistleblower complaint warning the rule could trigger “mass disenfranchisement,” the stakes for the 46.8 million Americans who voted by mail in 2024 have rarely been higher.