A federal judge on Wednesday barred the U.S. Postal Service from enforcing a Trump administration directive that would have placed new conditions on the delivery of mail-in ballots nationwide.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled that the directive violated a 2020 settlement agreement between the Postal Service and the NAACP. That agreement gave the court continuing oversight over Postal Service policies related to the monitoring and timely delivery of Election Mail, according to Fox News.
The order issued by President Donald Trump would have required states to provide the Postal Service with a list of voters who had requested mail-in ballots before those ballots could be delivered. It also imposed additional conditions on states seeking to use the Postal Service for mail-in and absentee voting.
Sullivan’s ruling prevents the Postal Service from implementing the directive anywhere in the country. This is the third time in a week that a liberal judge has blocked election security measures implemented to ensure that only eligible voters are casting ballots.
In his opinion, Sullivan wrote: “The Proposed Rule violates paragraph 2 of the Agreement because the Postal Service cannot post documents reflecting ‘practices and policies for prioritizing the monitoring and timely delivery of Election Mail’ if its policies provide that it will not accept ‘noncompliant mailing’ and therefore will not deliver mail-in or absentee ballots to some voters, and if it will not mail ballots to any voters in a state where the state ‘declines or fails to certify a list,’”
The nationwide injunction followed earlier legal challenges brought by nearly 25 states, which had already secured orders blocking the directive from taking effect within their own borders. Sullivan’s decision extended that prohibition across the United States.
That case involved Executive Order 14248, signed in March, which directed the creation of a federal voter registration list and imposed additional restrictions on voting by mail. The administration has defended the measure as part of a broader effort to combat voter fraud.
Last week, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital: “President Trump is committed to ensuring that Americans have full confidence in the administration of our elections. The President’s executive order lawfully protects our elections, and we are confident that we will ultimately prevail in its implementation.”
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