Federal judge in Boston issued a nationwide injunction putting a stop to USPS proposed rules that would restrict mail-in voting

MADISON, Wis. –  This afternoon, U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani once again ruled against the Trump administration’s attempts to restrict mail-in voting ahead of the November election. The ruling, in League of Women Voters of Massachusetts v. Trump, imposes a nationwide injunction that prevents Section 3 of Executive Order 14399, and by extension a related rule being promulgated by the United States Post Office (USPS), from being implemented. The proposed rule was crafted by the Trump administration in response to presidential Executive Order 14399 issued in March. 

Law Forward Policy Counsel Rachel Snyder released the following statement in response to today’s ruling: “This ruling reaffirms a basic constitutional principle: the President cannot rewrite how Americans vote by executive order. States and Congress set the rules for elections, not the Postal Service, and not the White House. We agree with Judge Talwani, who said: ‘The executive branch has no authority to regulate elections.’ Not only is this executive order illegal, rushing to implement it in the middle of an ongoing election, and within 90 days of the November general election, creates a unique threat to Wisconsin’s election system that would disenfranchise countless voters this fall.”

This order follows a previous ruling in June that blocked portions of the executive order from being implemented in the 23 states that challenged the USPS rule, including Wisconsin. That ruling has been appealed to the United States Supreme Court which is expected to issue a decision shortly.