DOJ asks Supreme Court to allow USPS mail-in voting curbs after Boston judge's block

Emergency appeal to the Supreme Court

The Justice Department filed an emergency request with the Supreme Court on Thursday, September 3, asking the justices to lift a temporary restraining order against new mail voting rules. The regulation, enacted by the U.S. Postal Service under an executive order by President Donald Trump, imposes restrictions on mail ballots ahead of the November midterm elections. The administration moved after U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston halted enforcement of the rule last week with a 14-day temporary order. The emergency petition asks the high court to permit the immediate implementation of the policy across all states before mail voting begins.

Postal Service requirements and state concerns

Under the challenged regulation, individual states must submit complete lists of mail-in voters directly to the Postal Service. The postal agency would then hold the authority to refuse delivery of mail ballots to any voters not found in that central database. In addition, the rule requires the Postal Service to approve the design of ballot envelopes before delivering them for any state. State election officials have warned they cannot comply with these operational mandates, stating that the directives would require a complete overhaul of voting procedures days before ballots are distributed to the electorate. The legal confrontation intensified less than 24 hours before the first state was scheduled to begin mailing ballots to registered voters.

Boston hearing on operational readiness

Hours before the Justice Department filed its emergency appeal, Judge Talwani held a hearing in Boston to decide whether to extend her prohibition on the policy. During the proceedings, Talwani noted that government lawyers had provided no operational details about the computer systems intended to run the voter verification process. She directly addressed Justice Department attorney Michael Velchik regarding the absence of implementation plans as election deadlines approached.

We are 70 days from the election and I have nothing from the USPS about how this will happen.

Velchik informed the court during the hearing that the administration planned to petition the Supreme Court by the end of the week.

Prior rulings and constitutional challenges

The legal dispute follows months of litigation over executive authority and state control of federal elections. In June, Judge Talwani blocked the administration from enacting Trump's initial executive order, determining that the timing was too close to the November election. The Supreme Court overturned that prohibition in late August, calling it premature because the Postal Service had not yet published formal regulations. When the agency published its final rule immediately prior to that ruling, voting rights groups and Democrats refiled their lawsuits. The plaintiffs argue that the Constitution assigns the power to set election rules to states and Congress, leaving the president without authority to establish mail ballot regulations. Donald Trump has long opposed mail voting and falsely blamed it for his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, even though he frequently uses that method to cast his own ballot.