League of Women Voters of Massachusetts v. Trump
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mad.305406/gov.uscourts.mad.305406.156.0.pdf
Judge Talawani’s injunction stopped Donald Trump and the US Postal Service from disrupting mail delivery in the 2026 election. It was affirmed 7-2 by the US Supreme Court. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/26a305_4g15.pdf It really should have been 9-0.
Trump has been explicit; he does not like mail-in voting for the millions of Americans, including but excepting himself, who do so. He issued an executive order to the Postal Service at the end of March for the federal takeover of mail-in balloting from the states and localities who run elections. The Postal Service was not to deliver election ballots between voters and state and local election officials unless the states and localities complied with Trump’s direction and directives regarding the Save Act. These rules included the use of “intelligent” bar codes, the federal design of the election envelopes, and most importantly turning over state’s election rolls identifying eligible voters to the designated Trump officials at the USPS and Homeland Security for verification of citizenship.
Judge Talawani found against the Trump scheme on three separate grounds. First, the US Constitution gives the states the authority and responsibility to run elections; it gives Congress the power to set federal rules governing elections; it gives the President no independent authority at all over elections. U.S. CONST. art. I, § 4, cl. 1. States have been using mail in ballots to varying degrees since the Civil War; it is very popular and used by 1/3rd of American voters. Second, Congress never gave the US Postal Service any authority whatsoever to intervene in or interfere with states’ mail-in balloting rules and practices. The Postal Services actions were ultra vires meaning the Postal Service had no statutory authority from Congress to act in the matter of state’s mail-in election practices. Third, delivering the mail through the US Postal Service is a federal responsibility under the Constitution. US Const, Art. 1, § 8, cl. 1. And it was not to be used for partisan opportunism nor for election interference. Congress, not the Postal Service, decides what mail cannot be delivered through the USPS, items like hazardous materials or motor vehicle master keys are explicitly forbidden, as opposed to state election ballots, which are not mentioned directly or implicitly.
The Supreme Court denied the Trump Administration’s appeal saying in cursory fashion “The Government is unlikely to succeed on the merits of its challenge to the District Court’s preliminary injunction.” Justice Kavanagh concurred “applying the rule in the 2026 elections would be arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act because state and local election officials do not have sufficient time to reasonably implement the rule before the elections.”
Justice Alito’s dissent says the plaintiffs lack standing, and that Congress can allow the Postal Service to regulate mail-in balloting as Trump tried to have it do. He fails to mention that Congress did not do so. He also claims that the court’s ruling is too close to the election, causing damage to Trump’s efforts to regulate state’s mail in balloting.
No one mentions the gigantic indeed humongous elephant in the room -- Trump’s unrelenting efforts to disrupt the midterm election to preserve his party’s hold on the House and Senate in any way that he can. No one mentions that the Postal Service was totally unprepared to implement changes of the magnitude required. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/whistleblower-postal-services-work-to-comply-with-trump-order-is-rushed-and-sloppy No one mentioned the Brookings report that fraud in mail-in voting is exceedingly rare – 4 cases per 10 million ballots. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/mail-voting-in-the-us-data-points-to-very-low-fraud-and-significant-benefits-to-voters/