ALERT: This is a Major Win For Democracy

The ruling concerns two related cases, decided together by Judge Indira Talwani in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts:

State of California et al. v. United States Postal Service et al.
Case No. 1:26-cv-13917-IT — the new challenge directly attacking USPS’s final mail-ballot rule.
League of Women Voters of Massachusetts et al. v. Trump et al.
Case No. 1:26-cv-11549-IT — the earlier challenge to Trump’s underlying executive order.

The immediate August 27 ruling temporarily blocked USPS requirements that states:

redesign ballot and return envelopes;
obtain advance USPS approval;
register with a new USPS portal;
upload identifying information for individual mail voters; and
use designated barcodes—or risk USPS refusing to transmit the ballots.

Talwani found that the plaintiffs were likely to prove that USPS lacked statutory authority to regulate election administration and that the rule unconstitutionally intruded upon the states’ authority over elections. She also found that last-minute compliance was practically impossible and created a grave risk of disenfranchisement. The ruling was a 14-day temporary restraining order, not a final judgment on the merits.

The principal case number to use when searching for this newest USPS-rule challenge is 1:26-cv-13917-IT. The order may also appear as Document 218 in the older LWV docket, 1:26-cv-11549-IT, because Talwani considered the two emergency motions together.