Court blocks – A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration cannot force the Postal Service to withhold mail-in ballots from states that won’t share voter lists, dealing a blow to the administration’s attempt to expand federal control over state-run elections.
On Thursday, a federal courtroom move landed with force and speed: a judge blocked the Postal Service from holding back mail-in ballots in states that refuse to give the federal government a list of their voters.
The ruling strikes at the heart of an effort the Trump administration has framed as tightening election rules—an effort built on an executive order issued in March that directed the Postal Service to restrict who receives ballots through the mail. The administration is trying to expand federal leverage over elections that, in practice, are run by the states.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani issued an injunction Thursday stopping the administration’s plan to make a list of verified voters—“greenlit” by the federal government—part of the pathway for receiving mail-in ballots. Talwani wrote that the Constitution “reserves the power to determine voter eligibility to the States alone. ” adding that Congress and the Executive branch don’t have the authority to interfere.
The decision came after a group of 23 states sued the Trump administration over the executive order. Those states prevailed in Thursday’s ruling, landing a clear win just ahead of November’s critical midterm elections.
For the Trump administration, the setback is likely temporary. The unfavorable ruling creates the immediate pressure point: the administration is expected to mount a legal challenge.
In her reasoning, Talwani also pushed back on the idea of presidential control over elections. “The Constitution does not grant the President any specific powers over elections,” she wrote. She is an Obama appointee.
The clash is more than legal theory—it’s about who holds the steering wheel on voting.
Trump’s camp disputes the premise. Last year. the president claimed on Truth Social that “States are merely an ‘agent’ for the Federal Government in counting and tabulating the votes.” The administration’s March directive has reflected that stance. treating federal approval as a lever over access to mail-in voting.
The executive order itself sits alongside Trump’s long-running attack on mail-in ballots. The president previously pledged to “get rid of mail-in ballots,” tying his hostility to false claims of voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election.
Critics of that approach argue that mail voting is both safe and accessible. Elections experts broadly view it that way, and the record in Oregon is often used as a point of reference. In Oregon. which switched to universal vote-by-mail more than 20 years ago. only a dozen cases of confirmed fraud were documented across two decades.
Mail-in voting is also common across Western states that reliably elect Democrats, including California, Oregon, and Washington. Colorado, Nevada, Utah, Vermont, and Washington, D.C., also use a mail-in voting system, automatically sending all eligible voters in the state a ballot through the mail.
The administration’s push has not stayed confined to court filings. During a Senate hearing on Wednesday. Postmaster General David Steiner confirmed that the Postal Service planned to withhold mail-in ballots in states that fail to comply with Trump’s executive order. while also admitting that courts would ultimately have the last word.
The sequence is now clear: an executive order sought to make federal verification a gate for mail ballots, a lawsuit from 23 states challenged that authority, and Talwani’s injunction blocked the plan in time to reshape what can happen before voters begin casting ballots in the next election cycle.
For now, Thursday’s ruling holds. The administration faces an uphill fight in the courts if it wants to revive its strategy—while states that resisted the federal voter list demand have their momentum heading into November.
mail-in voting Postal Service federal judge Indira Talwani 23 states lawsuit executive order March voter eligibility Truth Social Postmaster General David Steiner midterm elections voter fraud claims Oregon vote-by-mail