Hours After a Judge Blocked the USPS Mail-Ballot Rule, the Justice Department Asked a Second Judge to Let It Take Effect Anyway

On September 4, 2026, hours after Judge Indira Talwani in Massachusetts granted a preliminary injunction blocking mandatory enforcement of the Postal Service's final mail-ballot rule through the November election, the Justice Department asked U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington to deny a parallel injunction and let the same rule take effect. DOJ described the rule as imposing "modest informational requirements on senders of outbound federal ballot mailings" and told Nichols it "does not displace a single State election law" and "need not and should not prevent a single voter from voting by mail." Talwani, reviewing declarations from election officials in roughly half the states and D.C., had found disenfranchisement "practically inevitable" and no evidence of mail-voting fraud justifying the rushed timeline.

The filing puts two federal courts on opposite descriptions of the same regulation weeks before ballots go out. Talwani's ruling does not bind Nichols, so the administration can seek a conflicting order in a second forum rather than appeal the first.

The motion is pending before Nichols, who previously declined to block the underlying executive order on ripeness grounds before USPS issued a final rule. Talwani's preliminary injunction stands.