The battle over mail-in ballot rules has returned to its starting point, with a federal judge once again freezing the contested Postal Service regulation.
The Supreme Court had lifted an earlier injunction on August 24, instructing lower courts that federal judges review final rules, not proposed ones.
The Court stated that federal courts review “final rules, not proposed rules — and certainly not antecedent internal directives to propose a rule.”
Within two days of that ruling, USPS published its Final Rule, triggering an immediate and coordinated legal response from multiple states.
The Final Rule requires states to submit ballot-envelope designs for federal approval, register for a USPS portal, and upload mail voters’ personal information before the agency will deliver any ballots.
A fresh wave of lawsuits followed within hours of the rule’s publication, with 23 states and Washington D.C. filing a new complaint alongside Pennsylvania’s governor.
Voting-rights organisations also moved quickly, amending their existing legal challenges to address the newly finalised regulation directly.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, the Obama appointee who has now presided over this legal dispute multiple times, granted a temporary restraining order on August 27.
The restraining order freezes the core mandatory elements of the rule, effectively placing the regulation back on hold pending further judicial review.
Judge Talwani had previously ruled on earlier versions of this dispute, and her latest decision signals she remains unconvinced of the rule’s constitutional standing.
The Trump administration had secured a brief procedural win at the Supreme Court, but the finalisation of the rule immediately reopened the legal front it had hoped to close.
Critics of the rule argue it imposes significant new administrative burdens on states and raises serious concerns about voter privacy and federal overreach into state election processes.
The rapid turnaround from Supreme Court intervention to a new restraining order underscores how quickly the legal landscape shifted once the Postal Service made its rule official.