Supreme Court declined on Monday (September 14, 2026) to let the U.S. The U.S. Postal Service enforce a rule targeting mail-in ballots, dealing a setback to President Donald Trump’s effort to restrict voting by mail ahead of November’s midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.
The Justices denied the Justice Department’s request to lift a ruling by Boston-based U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani that blocked the Postal Service from enforcing the measure while legal challenges by states and voting-rights groups proceed. The agency adopted the measure after Trump issued a March executive order aimed at tightening rules governing mail voting. No other Justice dissented publicly. Another federal judge, Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Constitution, under which states administer elections. The Boston-based 1st U.S.
The court has a 6-3 conservative majority. District Judge Carl Nichols, also ruled against the new rule on Sunday (September 13, 2026). The administration in a September 6 emergency request urged the Supreme Court to allow it to implement an “important federal policy to protect the mails from being used to commit voter fraud. Judge Talwani imposed an injunction on September 4 blocking the rule, finding that it likely violated the U.S.
“The government is unlikely to succeed on the merits of its challenge to the District Court’s preliminary injunction,” the court said in its brief, one-paragraph order. She also said it would be impossible for the States to comply given the rapidly approaching midterms. Circuit Court of Appeals refused last Thursday to put Judge Talwani’s order on hold. The 1st Circuit said that the rule “will likely result in the disenfranchisement of millions of voters across the country while providing minimal — if any — gains in combating voter fraud.”
