An Obama-appointed federal judge froze the core of President Trump's executive order tightening mail-in voting rules Thursday, keeping federal agencies from verifying who actually receives a ballot through this year's midterm elections — and leaving the system that processed tens of millions of unsolicited mail ballots in 2020 largely untouched.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, sitting in Boston, issued a preliminary injunction covering the Nov. 3 midterms, ruling that sections of Trump's March 31 order are "legally void" as "ultra vires" and violate the separation of powers. The order, titled "Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections," had directed DHS and the Postal Service to assemble rosters of eligible voters in every state and deliver mail ballots only to people on those lists. It also directed the attorney general to prosecute anyone who sends ballots to ineligible voters.
Talwani's ruling stops all of that: no federal citizenship lists, no new USPS procedures for mail ballots, no prioritized investigations of state election officials. Twenty-three Democrat-led states and the District of Columbia sued to block the order, arguing the Constitution gives the president no authority over how states run their mail-ballot systems. Talwani agreed, finding the plaintiff states would face "irreparable harm" if forced to overhaul their election plans before November.
NBC News framed Trump's concerns about mail-in voting as "baseless allegations of widespread fraud" and highlighted that his administration includes officials like Kurt Olsen and Heather Honey, who were involved in efforts to challenge the 2020 results. The Daily Caller noted the ruling's practical effect — blocking citizenship verification, USPS ballot-tracking procedures, and investigations — without editorializing on the underlying fraud question. The Guardian provided the most detail on the mechanics: the order would have required state election officials to submit voter manifests with names, addresses, and barcode identifiers to a new "USPS federal ballot mail portal" at least 30 days before an election. USPS would physically verify outgoing mail ballots against the federal database. Any ballot addressed to someone not on the list, or any envelope lacking the mandated federal serialization and barcode, would be rejected and returned.
Postmaster General David Steiner told lawmakers Wednesday the Postal Service would withhold mail ballots from any state that refuses to surrender its absentee voter records to the federal government. Democratic Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan grilled Steiner at a Senate hearing, insisting "there is nowhere in the constitution and no federal law that the postal service is authorized to create these types of voter databases."
Notably, Talwani's injunction does not bar the federal government from assisting states with voter eligibility verification — but only if a state requests it and it operates within the framework Congress provides. States can still voluntarily comply with the proposed rules. What the injunction blocks is the federal government imposing the system from above.
A separate Boston federal judge permanently barred Trump's first election executive order Wednesday, which required proof of citizenship to register to vote. Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols declined to block the March order in late May, finding agencies hadn't yet acted on it. That decision is being appealed to the D.C. Circuit.
Trump is also pushing Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which would impose new proof-of-citizenship and voter ID requirements. On Wednesday, he canceled plans to sign a bipartisan housing bill, saying the SAVE America Act must pass first. NBC reported the legislation lacks the votes to clear the GOP-led Senate under current rules.
The administration is expected to appeal Talwani's ruling. The question for November: who decides what safeguards apply to mail ballots — the states that run the systems, the president who orders them, or the judges who block him?
